


The way we get by

by neworld



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Drug Addiction, Gen, Ghosts, Good Brother Ben Hargreeves, Good Sister Vanya Hargreeves, Homelessness, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Pre-Canon, Recreational Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-08-08
Packaged: 2020-05-13 19:10:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 31,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19257415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neworld/pseuds/neworld
Summary: Just another fic about Klaus and Ben trying to get by in this crazy world when they were young and had first left the academy.Most of the time Klaus loved having Ben around.  He was good company, he would keep up a constant snarky commentary on people on the train when he could tell Klaus was feeling jittery and overwhelmed with claustrophobia.  He kept an eye on Klaus's stuff for him and reminded him to eat and drink water.  But there were other times when Klaus wished his sweet, nerdy brother wasn't around to witness some of the shit he got up to.  Klaus toed the line between flamboyant party animal and complete human disaster. At the moment Klaus suspected he was slipping rapidly into human disaster territory because Ben kept giving him this tight, disapproving look.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> not sure why but all my formatting got removed, like italics and spaces and the like. It's normal in the editing view but then reverts to a big weird chunk of text when I post it. hope that doesn't make this too mard to read...
> 
> Anyone know how to fix this?

Most of the time Klaus loved having Ben around. He was good company, he would keep up a constant snarky commentary on people on the train when he could tell Klaus was feeling jittery and overwhelmed with claustrophobia. He kept an eye on Klaus's stuff for him and reminded him to eat and drink water. But there were other times when Klaus wished his sweet, nerdy brother wasn't around to witness some of the shit he got up to. Klaus toed the line between flamboyant party animal and complete human disaster. At the moment Klaus suspected he was slipping rapidly into human disaster territory because Ben kept giving him this tight, disapproving look.

They were at a club, Klaus barely knows how he got there but he vaguely remembers being used like a human shield to get past the bouncers, slurring something about the group of people he was with all being with him and that they were wonderful, so let them in, at 19 he is still enjoying some perks of being a minor celebrity, people want to party with him, he always gets into places. It's great, he has a rotating list of party friends. He can't remember which ones he came with tonight though, it hardly matters. Life is good, he is free and the ghosts have all shut up, even Ben, despite his judgemental looks.

Klaus had left the academy to go to college and ever since he had been partying hard. He was celebrating, he was finally free from his oppressive father. Said father had eventually accepted he was useless at a crime fighter and let him leave to study art and drama. If he couldn't succeed as a vigilante maybe he could at least follow in his sisters footsteps. Klaus was given a stipend that paid for his education, accomodation and 2 meals a day. If he wanted anything more than that he would have to earn it in his free time, his father had cooly explained as he signed forms without looking up at his gangly teenage son, hovering in the doorway of his office as he hadn't actually been granted access. But Klaus was pretty resilient against his father's disinterest by now, besides the low funds turned out not to be much of an issue. Everyone he met was immediately fascinated with him. Partly because of the umbrella thing, because who wouldn't have a few questions about a childhood spent raised by an eccentric billionaire to fight crime? But independent of his odd past Klaus was a vibrant, witty person who was lots of fun to be around. People invited him to things, people wanted him at their parties, wanted him to be their friend, they gave him food and clothes and drugs and alcohol to get on his goodside, because he was fun. Klaus soaked it all up like a sponge. He loved attention, he loved music and dancing and getting high and talking shit with people, and clothes and sex and playing video games and bad TV and all the normal human things he never got to be part of before. He loved that the stakes were never so high that people he cared about may die, but he sadly did not love or have any particular talent for art, so he rarely did any actual study or classes. All his life he had been forced to do things he didn't want with intense regiment, he lacked any drive or ability to push himself to do things he didn't want to do on his own accord, so he just didn't do them. But everything was going fine, he was happy, the actual college part of college seemed unimportant compared to how happy he was.

After a while though the fragility of his new situation became apparent. He got a letter from the college explaining he was being kicked out because he hadn't attended enough classes or submitted any work. This had left him in a bit of a pickle since he had been living on campus. Also, because his father did not consider party animal as a worthwhile career, he no longer received any money. Fortunately he was able to adapt easily, his lifestyle didn't even change much. The only difference really was that when he inevitably reached the point he had to sleep or suffer drain damage, he had to find a couch to crash on, or a bed to share. No big challenge, except tonight it was for some reason.

Klaus wasn't really feeling it tonight. He couldn't put his finger on why but he wasn't enjoying the club, his body felt wrong somehow, slow and sluggish as he tried to force it to move to the beat. The latest pill he had dropped was not fighting the beginnings of the comedown from the last one. His pulse felt overwhelmingly loud and everything spinned and blurred if he moved his eyes.

"I think I need some air." He slurred to the guy he had been dancing with. They gave little indication they had heard or understood him and made no effort to stop or follow him. Klaus made his way out onto the street, sucking in the cold night air and trying to pull himself together. He threw up violently into the gutter, earning a chorus of disgust from the people milling around the back of the club. He staggered away from them, feeling disgusting and depressed.

"I need to go home." He said aloud to no one in particular.

"You don't have one Klaus." Ben reminded him, he seemed worried but somewhat resigned, he had known this was coming. It was inevitable that one day Klaus would not arrange for a place to sleep before he was too wasted/exhausted to do so. There was no way the bouncers would let him back in the club in the state he was in, so he would not be able to ask his current party friends for help, not that that seemed like a possibility, considering how little they had cared for him after he had go them into the club. Ben's best option was to try and coax Klaus through public transport to either one of his more supportive friends houses, or maybe Diego's apartment, or Vanya's.

"Come on." Ben urged his brother. "Just down the street there's a bus stop."

Klaus groaned dramatically but shuffled after his ghost brother obediently. As they made it down the street it became clear to Ben that Klaus would be lucky to make it to the bus stop. Klaus was rapidly losing the ability to stand upright, he tried valiantly for almost a block, stumbling and leaning heavily on the walls of buildings and parked cars. He had to stop twice to retch into the gutter. "Almost there buddy." Ben encouraged, he flickered ahead to check the bus timetable, and saw they had missed the last bus, they would need to wait for the first bus of the morning at 5:45am. At least that would give Klaus plenty of time to shuffle along the street Ben mused. When he flicked back to his brother though he found Klaus had given up and his quest and stumbled into an alley to sleep behind a dumpster on a pile of cardboard boxes. Ben stood sadly by his brother. Klaus was unresponsive, his breathing sounded ragged and he was horribly pale. He curled up on his makeshift cardboard bed, shivering and making small pained noises. Ben worried, not for the first time, that his brother would not survive the night. But thankfully Klaus woke up in the pale grey hours of the morning, groaning and rolling off his boxes gracelessly.

" Urgh this mattress sucks." He moaned, blinking around fuzzily. "Oh that's because it's literally garbage." He mused as he took in his surroundings.

"Are you ok?" Ben asked.

"Wow I must look as bad as I feel if you're not giving me shit for passing out in an alleyway." Klaus mumbled rubbing his face with both hands.

"Yes." Ben said simply. "You look pitiful..." He frowned down at Klaus "I'm pitying you, and I'm dead. You should rethink your life choices."

Klaus groaned again and fished around his pockets looking for cigarettes. He really did look pitiful. He was washed out pale, his lips were blue with cold from sleeping outside and his eyes were so swollen and bloodshot Ben wondered if he was hungover, badly sleep deprived, or maybe even had some kind of eye infection.

"Come on get up, the bus stop isn't far away." Ben urgerd.

"Where'm I even gonna go?" Klaus mumbled, pushing against the grimy wall of the alley for stability as he levered himself upright. He stuffed a crumpled cigarette between his lips and stumbled after Ben along the street.

"Back to the campus." Ben told him, this seemed like a good plan to Ben, Klaus knew a lot of people at the college from when he was a student, and at least one of them would put him up. Students weren't always super willing to let Klaus stay, he's not great at respecting their needs for quiet to study or sleep at reasonable hours. But at the campus there would be many options to try close together so it was the best bet for when Klaus didn't have anything to offer in return and was depending of friendship alone for a safe place to sleep. Ben was ready to argue this point with Klaus but his brother didn't protest at all and just nodded vaguely and slumped onto the bench at the bus stop. It turned out that his plan was irrelevant since the bus driver refused to let Klaus on the bus.

"You don't have a ticket and you are not dressed appropriately." The driver sniffed at him.

"What're you the fashion police?" Klaus slurred at him.

"Buy a ticket." The driver demanded, he was a thickset man in his early 50s with a square face that held no sympathy or understanding, he was driving the early bus through the bad part of town, he had seen enough shit.

"Oh come on man." Klaus whined at him, giving the guy puppy dog eyes. "I got robbed, I had my wallet stolen." But he driver was having none of it.

"You said that last time." The driver smirked.

Klaus didn't even bother searching his memory banks for a previous interaction. He didn't remember most of his interactions and this guy was not nearly hansome or interesting enough to be an exception.

"What do you care?" He asked bitterly. "You're not the ticket inspector, you get paid just the same if'm on the bus or not." This was not the right path to take, the man immediately became defensive.

"Either you get out of the doorway of this bus right now or I will call the police." He fumed.

"Ok, Ok...don't get your panties in a twist."

Klaus stumbled back off the bus onto the street. He was feeling dizzy again, his pulse so loud he worried his heart might explode through his eyeballs. Klaus slumped back down on the bus stop bench, painstakingly folding his legs up so he could rest his aching head on them. The campus was too far to walk, he would have to wait for the next bus and try his luck again. Ben frowned at the timetable, buses only ran every hour until 7:30, and Klaus looked pretty vulnerable at the moment. Barely awake and shivering with cold and the drugs leaving his system, and this wasn't a great neighbourhood.

"Maybe you should call Diego to come pick you up, there is a payphone not too far away, you can call collect." Ben suggested.

He wasn't sure if there was something else wrong with Klaus, it was probably a mixture of exhaustion, hangover and mild hypothermia. but it was unusual for him to be this much of a mess for this long, he normally bounced back pretty quickly from a night out, he at least managed to get himself together enough to line up the next one. Today he seemed like a sad forgotten party balloon that had deflated overnight. Klaus just groaned in annoyance at the idea of getting up again. But he changed his mind a few moments later when a ghost zeroed in on him. Across the street there was a rambling, shabbily dressed man, pacing up and down and shouting at nothing, he had been doing this for a few minutes before Ben realised he was a ghost because this was not that unusual a thing for a living person to be doing in the street, people did all kinds of odd things. But then he stomped towards them and phased right through a passing car.

"Great..." Ben mutterd dryly. "Head's up you've been spotted." He told Klaus, who just groaned again and curled up on himself a bit tighter. As the man came closer Ben saw he had misjudged the large shabby coat and old worn boots as a hobo aesthetic, the ghost was probably from the 1940s and had likely died during the depression. As soon as he began speaking to them this was confirmed, it was all he talked about. "I used to be someone." The ghost wailed.

"I was a big man...I had everything...and they took it all...the bastards...they took everything from me!"

"Urgh keep it down." Klaus moaned. "My head is killing me."

"Yeah look we can't really do anything for you, so can you just leave us alone?" Ben asked.

"You mind your own damn business you chink!" The ghost raged.

"Hey shut up! Don't call him that!" Klaus snapped getting up shakily.

"Uh... I didn't say anything..." It was a tired looking man in a food stained kitchen uniform, who had just walked up to the bus stop unnoticed.

"Not you." Klaus waved off the newcomers defence. "I was talking to this racist ghost." Klaus gestured to the empty air, then realizing how crazy he must seem walked off, leaving the baffled newcomer and the angry spirit from the 40s. He followed Ben as his brother coaxed him impatiently towards the pay phone, Klaus felt foggy and kept forgetting what he was meant to be doing. Ben had to keep reminding him, and coaching him through doing the simplest tasks, like opening the door to the phone booth and dialling the numbers. He was trying to push down his frustration with Klaus but couldn't help the occasional snarky comment. Klaus leaned heavily against the glass booth as he waited to see if Diego accepted his charges.

Diego did but his voice was terse and annoyed. "It's never a good thing when I hear from you this early." Is how he began the conversation.

"It's...early?" Klaus looked vaguely around the street, the sky was a shitty dark grey. It could be any time of the day or night as far as he was aware.

"What do you want Klaus?" Diego snapped, impatient.

"Tell him you need him to pick you up because you are sick." Ben coached, seeing Klaus's confused expression.

"I need you to pick me up... I'm sick, my head hurts and I'm cold and I tried getting the bus Diego I swear...but I have no money..." He trailed off, distracted by a sudden starburst of swirling coloured light in the corner of his vision.

"Were you out partying all night?" Diego asks but it sounds more like an accusation.

Ben has his face close to Klaus's so he can also hear Diego on the phone. He sees sweat break out on his brother's face and even more colour fade until his complexion is almost grey.

"Are you going to be sick again?" Ben worried, Klaus had vomited through him before in similar situations, it couldn't actually touch him but it was still super gross.

"Uh I'm not sure..." Klaus answered Ben and swayed dangerously.

"What do you mean? How wasted are you?" Diego snapped at him.

"No I was... Ben asked me..." Klaus moved the phone away and gagged, clamping a hand over his mouth. He managed to keep control of his stomach though and just let out a shaky sigh and held the phone up again.

"...can't keep doing this." Diego was saying, he had clearly missed the important part.

"Sorry what?" Klaus asked him. "Can you repeat that?"

"Oh my god you're so...." Diego sighed heavily on the other line. "I can't come pick you up Klaus, I have a life, I can't just drop everything because got too messed up to find your own way home, I'm not a taxi service. In fact that's a good idea, just get a cab like a regular person, if you have no money you will have to take the cab home and get Mom to pay for it." Diego told him firmly then hung up before Klaus could say anything else.

Klaus stared at the receiver in shock for a second, then slowly slid down the glass until he was sitting on the ground and started sobbing.

"Hey it's ok." Ben crouched down with him, alarmed. "He just thought you were wasted, he didn't realise you really need help."

"I know, I know." Klaus sobbed and sniffled, swiping at him eyes with frustration. "It's just the comedown."

But Klaus was hurt, he didn't understand, he had thought he was on good terms with Diego. The two of them caught up from time to time, Diego liked to read about Luther's missions aloud from the newspaper, and over analyse them, and bitch about how it could be done better. Klaus had asked Diego to pick him up a few times he supposed, and Diego had been increasingly testy about it recently. It still stung, he had thought Diego would always come for him, no matter what.

"Diego might have a lot going on right now." Ben consoled. "And he might be right Klaus, maybe you should just get a cab home, or call home and ask them to come get you?"

Klaus shook his head sadly. Home was not a pleasant place for him. His father had made it clear that if was to live at home he would be expected to participate in missions and training. He didn't seem to understand the toll this took on Klaus. Neither did Luther, who totally bought his father's stance that they should use their powers for the good of humanity. Reginald Hargreeves was a harsh man with no regard for the emotional health of his children, or even the physical health of his children a lot of the time. He had no sympathy for Klaus's suffering due to his ability to see the dead and often called him a disappointment. Luther on the other hand just didn't understand. He had always loved missions and training, he had loved their weird childhood and adored their father. He considered the siblings very lucky to have super powers, and wealth and all the opportunities that they had, and thought that the least they could do was try and use their good fortune to help others. What could Klaus possibly do in the face of this attitude? Luther saw him as a frivolous, spoilt brat and it would hurt more if Klaus didn't find Luther so tragic in his own way. Luther had never had a friend outside the academy, never wanted to. His whole life had been tied up in their dysfunctional family and now that it was broken up and scattered he seemed lost and lonely. Klaus hated to see him this way, as much as Luther despaired at seeing Klaus the way he was.

"Well you can't just stay here in this phone booth all day." Ben pointed out. "What about Vanya?"

Klaus shook his head again, he was still crying and more tears dislodged from his lashes and rolled down his cheeks with the movement.

"Come on she'll want to help you." Ben urged, he was worried about what would happen in Klaus passed out in public and wanted to avoid it if possible. Klaus had been closer to Alison than Vanya, but she was far away and unreachable. Klaus hadn't seen much of Vanya since she moved out but she was always meekly pleasant to him. Ben was sure she wouldn't want him to pass out alone in the street.

"I don't know her number." Klaus argued.

"I do, Diego has given it to you like 100 times."

"Ok, ok I'll try." it took a lot of effort for Klaus to pull himself up again and dial through to the collect call service, he repeated Vanya's number as Ben recited it for him and waited for it to connect. Finally Vanya's small, uncertain voice was on the other line.

"Hello?" She asked, her voice sleep rough.

"Will you accept the charges from a call from Klaus Hargreeves?" The operator asked. There was a tense beat of time as Vanya processed this.

"Yes, I'll accept the charges." She agreed. "Klaus? What's going on? Did something happen?" Her concern made Klaus start to sob again.

"Klaus!" Vanya's anxiety shot up to 100.

"What's wrong? Where are you?"

"I don't even know.' Klaus told brokenly. "Are you hurt?" She panicked.

"No...I don't think so...my head hurts a lot." Klaus was forgetting why he called already, black spots swam in his vision, he was close to passing out. "I tried to get the bus... I did but he was so angry...and Diego is angry and I'm cold."

"Tell her you need her to come get you." Ben urged, worried Klaus would pass out before relaying this important information.

"She can't come get me." He sobbed. "I don't know where I am."

"I will come get you Klaus." Vanya told him determined.

"Do you see a landmark, a street sign?" Klaus shook his head forgetting he was talking on the phone. But Ben told him the street name and the nearest connecting street and a bunch of landmarks until Vanya agreed that she understood where he was.

"I'm coming to get you Klaus, just sit tight ok." Vanya told him before hanging up. /p>


	2. Chapter 2

By the time Vanya arrived Klaus was passed out inside the phone booth, slumped against the glass, the receiver still held loosely in his limp hand.  Vanya was already pretty stressed but seeing him like this make her heart lurch, he was so still and pale, she couldn't tell if he was breathing.

"Oh god Klaus!"  Vanya pushed in to the phone booth.  "Please don't be dead!"  She knelt and lay her head against his chest.  He smelt like vomit and stale sweat.  Vanya sighed in relief when she heard the faint drag of breath in his lungs and erratic pounding of his heart. She shook him gently but he did not react and was completely limp.   

"I'm such an idiot."  She told her unconcious brother tearfully. "I should have called and ambulance the second I knew where you where."  She took the receiver from his slack fingers and stood up to dail.  Once she was sure the ambulance was on it's way Vanya went back to Klaus, she took her jacket off and arranged it over him like a blanket, then she curled up against his side, trying to force some of her body heat into him.  It was a dull autumn morning, spitting with rain and unpleasantly chilly. Klaus felt so cold against her skin it terrified her.

"Please don't die."  She whispered to him.  

Ben sat by his siblings, invisible and feeling helpless.  He longed to comfort Vanya, he wished he had body heat to give Klaus as well.  

"Don't worry"  He told Vanya pointlessly, knowing she wouldn't hear him. "He's going to be fine now, you saved him."  

The ambulance doesn't take long to arrive, and the paramedics load Klaus in, they let Vanay and Ben ride with him, though they don't know about Ben obviously.  Vanya is so obviously overwhelmed with anxiety the paramedics convince her to take a mild sedative, worried she will also pass out from hyperventilating.

Klaus remains stubbornly unconscious on the ride to the hospital but his stats improve immediately once he's given an IV.  

"Do you think he might have taken anything?"  The paramedic asks Vanya.  She looks helpless and conflicted.  

"It's ok we just want to help him."  The medic assures her.  "He's dressed like he was clubbing, do you know if he takes ecstacy?"  

Vanya shrugged, blinking tears. "Probably."  It did seem on brand for Klaus.

"We see this a lot."  The other paramedic tells Vanya.  "It's really hot in the club and they get really dehydrated dancing all night, then go out into the cold and don't feel it at first."

Vanya nodded, she was starting to feel calmer from the sedative.  

Klaus is admitted and swept away for treatment. Vanya called Diego to let him know what happened, she knows Diego is close to Klaus and would want to know he's in hospital but she is unsure if she should call the rest of her family, Klaus is out of danger now and he might be embarrassed to have everyone know what happened. And their father would be furious. 

After a while they let Vanya in to see Klaus and explained that he was critically dehydrated and had mild hypothermia. His blood sugar was alarmingly low, which, along with having zero body fat is probably why he hadn't been able to generate enough body heat to keep himself a normal temperature. He seems malnourished as well, the doctors want to run a full blood test to see how badly. Vanya takes this all in with dull eyed depression, each detail making her curl in on herself a little more. She is still curled up on a chair by Klaus's bedside when Diego bursts in looking frantic and worried.  He blanches when he sees Klaus.  Although he's stable now Klaus still looks terrible.  He has dark bruise-like bags around his eyes and his skin is horribly pale, various tubes and wires snake from him, feeding him fluids and and oxygen and monitoring his vitals.  

"He's going to be OK."  Vanya reassures him.  

Diego jumps a little, Vanya took up so little room and was so quiet and still he hadn't noticed her there.

Diego nods and runs a shaky hand through his short hair. He had been growing it long in a brief phase of rebellion last time Vanya saw him, but now he has it buzz cut for the police.  It's a pity she thinks, in that detached way you notice things when you are under high stress, the long hair had suited him, made him look softer.  Right now Diego just looks stressed and angry.

"It's all my fault."  He tells Vanya.  "He called me...I didn't know...he calls all the time when he's wasted and needs a luh-lift."  He takes a steadying breath, trying to calm down so he won't stutter.  "I didn't know he was ODing, I would have come got him if I knew he was in trouble..."  

Vanya went to Diego and touched his arm gently to snap him out of his self reproach.

"It's not your fault."  She told him firmly.  "And he didn't OD."  

Diego frowned, confused.  

"What happened to him then?"

"He was badly dehydrated, and exhausted and...malnourished."  Her voice broke as she said the last of the list.  "The doctors said he's so skinny and had no energy to keep warm, he was hypothermic even though it's not cold enough out for that to normally happen."  Vanya was crying again.  It was unbearably sad to her that Klaus had gotten to this point without anyone noticing.  

"Are you ok?"  Diego asked Vanya, she had clearly been crying a lot and her lips and fingers were bitten from stress, and Vanya was so tiny and frail looking.  He knew she had problems with her nerves, this must have been hard on her.

Vanya nodded, then shook her head and sobbed again.  "It was so horrible Diego."  She told him tearfully.  "When I first got there I thought he was dead. I got so freaked out they had to give me a sedative. It's just so soon after Ben...I thought I was going to lose another brother." She sobbed.  

Diego patted her arm awkwardly.  He knew he should probably hug her but he was never good at that kind of thing.

"You should go home and rest."  He told her.

"No I'm ok." Vanya sniffled thickly and rubbed at her eyes.  "I want to be here when he wakes up."  

"Go home, get some sleep."  Diego told his sister firmly.  "I'll call you when he's awake."

Vanya finally agreed and left Diego to watch over Klaus.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Klaus woke up after 48 hours of complete exhausted unconsciousness.  He had not really slept in days, partly because he had been too strung out on uppers, and partly because he had not been able to line up a safe place to sleep, so he just didn't. During the day he hung around cafes and bars or parks or whatever took his fancy, until it was late enough to go to whatever party was on, or go clubbing. He hadn't realised his body was getting so close to burning out, he had been too high, he felt fine. So Klaus wasn't sure what the problem was when he woke up to the instantly recognisable sounds of the hospital.  The incessant beeping of machinery and wailing of the dead.  Klaus cracked an eye cautiously to see what was going on.

Klaus woke up after 48 hours of complete exhausted unconsciousness.  He had not really slept in days, partly because he had been too strung out on uppers, and partly because he had not been able to line up a safe place to sleep, so he just didn't. During the day he hung around cafes and bars or parks or whatever took his fancy, until it was late enough to go to whatever party was on, or go clubbing. He hadn't realised his body was getting so close to burning out, he had been too high, he felt fine. So Klaus wasn't sure what the problem was when he woke up to the instantly recognisable sounds of the hospital.  The incessant beeping of machinery and wailing of the dead.  Klaus cracked an eye cautiously to see what was going on.

Diego was sitting to one side of him, looking worried and annoyed.  Ben was sitting on his other side, watching Diego with a sad, wistful expression that broke Klaus's heart.  Ben quickly noticed Klaus was awake.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"  He asked.

Klaus moaned softly in reply, he felt like he had been dragged behind a truck.

"Are you awake?"  Diego asked.

"Unfortunately."  Klaus muttered, swallowing thickly, everything hurt, his brain felt foggy, he struggled to remember how he had ended up in the hospital, something to do with a bus maybe?  He couldn't be sure. Most likely he'd overdosed, he supposed.

"What the fuck Klaus?"  Diego asked angrily.

Klaus blinked at him confused.

"Huh?"  He asked, genuinely puzzled at his brothers anger. 

"You almost died."  Diego seethed.  "Because you were so high for so long you forgot the basic human necessities, like, you know...eating, drinking, sleeping... that kind of thing."

"Maybe give him a moment to wake up before you start yelling at him."  Ben told Diego with a soft, fond smile.

"Why are you so mad at me?"  KLaus whined, burrowing under the sheets.

"Because you almost DIED you moron!"  

Klaus looked to Ben for help.  

"He's right Klaus."  Ben told him solemnly.  "You almost died, from hypothermia...in Autumn...in a phone booth.  That's just embarrassing."  

"Oh right because we can't all go out in a blaze of glory like you?"  Klaus rolled his eyes.

"What?"  Diego snapped.

"Nothing, look calm down, this was just a mistake."

"I need you to take this seriously."  Diego implored. 

"Take what seriously?"  Klaus asked puzzled, he didn't really understand Diego's problem, it wasn't even like he had done anything wrong, he hadn't ODed, he hadn't been arrested, he just got too cold, that could happen to anyone.

"If it makes you feel better I promise I will wear a coat next time."  He told Diego, hand over his heart.

"No not this time."  Diego stalked over to to the bed and loomed over Klaus menacingly.   "You can't be flippant about this, you have to promise me...fucking promise me Klaus... that this won't happen again."

"I..."  Was as far as Klaus got because Diego wasn't done with his rant.

"Promise me you will stop being high  _all_ the fucking time. Promise me you will make sure you  _eat food_ three times a day.  Promise you will drink  _water_ as well as _booze_.  Promise you will sleep eight hours out of every twenty-four.  Promise you will do the bare fucking minimum to stay healthy."

Klaus blinked at him.  "Diego."  He said softly.  "This was just an accident, I didn't mean to..."

"Oh and one more thing you have to promise."  Diego cut him off.

"Don't involve Vanya in your shit ever again."  Diego's voice dangerously quiet.

Klaus swallowed hard, how had he involved Vanya?  He couldn't even remember the last time he saw her.

"You don't even remember do you?"  Diego accused.

Klaus shrugged helplessly.  

"She saved you Klaus, you called her and asked her to come get you then passed out in the phone booth. SHe thought you were dead Klaus!"  Diego's eyes flashed with anger, he had always been protective of Vanya, she was so tiny and helpless.  "She's not like us Klaus, she isn't used to stress, she has anxiety problems.  You know she's sick, she's been on medication since she was four.  How could you do that to her?"

KLaus stared at Diego in stunned silence, nervously fiddling with the white hospital sheet.

"Is Vanys OK?"  He asked timidly.

"Of course not, she's freaked out, they had to sedate her.  I sent her home."

Klaus nodded he had started crying silently.  He didn't remember calling Vanya, he felt horribly guilty that he had upset his fragile sister.

"Don't involve her again Klaus, I mean it, she can't handle it.  If you need help call me, or better yet look after yourself like a regular person so you don't need help all the fucking time."  Diego finished his rant, he seemed deflated, like he was as exhausted as Klaus.  He dragged his fingers down his face wearily. 

"I have to go."  He told his brother. "I have to get back to my training."  And with that he slipped out of the room unaware of the chain of event he set in motion.  Klaus would never call Vanya for help again, he didn't keep any of his other promises to Diego but he did keep that one.  Vanya would be hurt and confused that Klaus never mentioned that day, she was also a bit hurt Diego didn't call her when Klaus was awake like he promised.  Klaus never called her to thank her, and he never asked for her for help again. Which she found a little insulting, hadn't she done a good job? Why didn't he confide in her.  None of this had not been Diego's intention, he wanted to scare Klaus straight, he wanted to protect Vanya, he wanted Klaus to call him next time so he could be absolved of the guilt he felt from not going to Klaus's aid when he needed it.  But Diego was a 19 year old boy, and he emotional intelligence was not his strong suit. 

Klaus was left alone apart from Ben, he lay in his hospital bed and cried from the mixture of guilt and hurt.  He felt particularly bad because he had been on Es for several days and completely messed up his brain chemistry.  

Ben watched him cry for a few minutes, conflicted.  He really wanted Diego's tough love to sink in, he wanted Klaus to get better at looking after himself.  Ben often worried that he enabled Klaus's poor lifestyle choices.  But he also couldn't handle watching Klaus cry for very long. 

"He's just worried about you.  He wouldn't yell if he didn't care."  Ben soothed, sitting beside Klaus on the hospital bed and hovering his intangible hand over Klaus's shoulder in a way he hoped was comforting.  

Klaus looked up at Ben with water, bloodshot eyes.  "I didn't mean to Ben."  He had such a lost and vulnerable expression it instantly broke all Ben's resolve to stick with Diego's tough love technique.

"I know Klaus, it's ok." He consoled.  "Diego will calm down, he was just super worried about you cos you really almost died dude. And for a really stupid reason"

Klaus gave him a timid, watery smile.  "I know, it's so stupid, when I first woke up I thought I ODed."  he admitted.

 

"Everyone though you'd ODed!"  Ben agreed throwing his hands up.

Klaus giggled and Ben worried again he was letting Klaus get away with too much.

"But seriously."  He told Klaus, locking eyes, earnest.  "You can't just just keep getting wasted all day every day Klaus."

Klaus nodded sadly, he fiddled with the sheets again.  "But if I don't they'll come back."  He said softly.

Ben nodded sadly.  "I know but you need to be... I don't know... a bit more like a regular person, like at least enough of the time that you don't end up in hospital because you got high too many consecutive days in a row...maybe it's time to try to deal with them."

Klaus gripped the sheet harder and shook his head.

"It won't be like when dad was making you do it."  Ben argued.  "If you meet a really bad ghost or need to take a break then you can get high, otherwise you need to have a proper life.  Eating food, sleeping, having a job etc."

Klaus frowned to himself.  "How do people even get jobs?"  He mused. 

Ben was about to make a scathing comment about Klaus's ignorance towards the toils of regular life, when he realised he had no more of an idea how to get a job than Klaus.  Their education had not particularly prepared them for the real world.  Apart from being an child vigilante fighting crime with his siblings, he had mostly just intangibly followed Klaus around while he when to parties and got wasted, so he wasn't exactly worldy.  

"We will work it out together."  Ben told him firmly.  "But you have to commit to being sober at least enough that you can function as a person, ok?"

Klaus sighed heavily.  "Ok."  Klaus agreed finally.  "I'll try it."

Ben looked elated.

"But!..."  Klaus held up a finger.  "I will only be a functioning person Mondays to Fridays."  He grinned.  "During business hours."  He added.

"Klaus."  Ben cautioned.  

"Ok fine, I won't do any hard stuff on school night."  He cross his arms and huffed.  "Happy?"

Ben grinned and shrugged.  "So what about the ghosts?  You going to start trying to talk to them?"

Klaus groaned a dramatic put upon groan.  "I guess why?"

With a nod of his head he gestured to a group of ghost's hovering in the hallway outside Klaus's room.

"You already have queue." 

  


	4. Chapter 4

The problem with ghosts, Klaus mused, as he stuffed a shiny, metallic tank top back onto a clothes hanger, is that they had no respect for personal space.  Klaus had been in the middle of replacing some old stock with the latest when a flicker of movement behind him caught his eye.  He looked at the mirrored wall in front of him partly obscured by a rack of clothes, to check who was in the reflection.  A customer?  A co-worker?  Ben?  But no, it was the ghost of a woman, dead eyed and pale, standing eerily close behind him.  Klaus shrieked and jumped, spinning as he did to face the ghost, knocking several items off the rack and he did so.  

Klaus scowled and looked around as he rearranged the fallen clothes. Checking to see if anyone had noticed him acting like a freak. He fixed the ghost with a firm, disciplinarian look.   

"Look I get that you're probably having a rough time and all..."  Klaus told the ghost woman. "But would it kill you to have some manners?  Like how did you normally start conversations with people before you died?  Hi...How are you?...How's your week been?"  Klaus asked, gesturing to each example with a slow wave of his hand. "Would you like it if someone had just snuck up on you and started _death rattling_ at you?  Klaus sighed and gave the ghost an impatient glare.  "Well?  Come on... what do you want?"  Klaus put a hand on his hip, waiting for recognition on her face.  But there was none, the woman seemed to have been strangled to death.  Her face held the tragically betrayed expression of her final moment, her mouth moved helplessly with no air.

Klaus's demeanor softened.  "Can you talk?"  He asked more softly. "Look don't worry we'll work something out."  He glanced around quickly to make sure he was still not being observed talking to himself.  "I can't talk right now, but I'll be finished in a few hours...I'm not sure if you are still aware of the passage of time?...No?... Later OK, when I finish work."

It had been four weeks since he had gotten out of hospital, promising Ben he would make more of an effort to take care of himself.  He was not swearing off drugs, he liked them too much, and they were they only thing that gave him a break from both the literal and metaphoric ghosts in his life.  But he did get a job and a place of his own, though he had really only achieved both of these things because of Alison.  She was delighted to hear he wanted a job and easily lined him up with one at a fashion outlet she had modeled for and indorsed publicly.  But she had not told them he was her brother, it was better for both of them, she assured him, if he stayed out of the limelight.  Klaus wholeheartedly agreed.  He didn't want any of his party friends showing up to hang out.  He liked keeping his work life and his...everything else...life separate.  It was working well so far.

Klaus loved his job!  He got to wear really cool clothes, and his boss and coworkers actually loved and appreciated his sense of fashion.   He could to listen to cool music at work too, they mainly catered for people around Klaus's age, and his boss said to play what he thought cool, young, fashionable people would like.  So he go to listen to pop music like Lady Ga Ga and MGMT instead of some odd stuffy old man explaining wilderness survival.  It was wonderful.  And he got _paid_ to float around the shop, giving people compliments, suggesting outfits and chatting to people his age.  He would have done all that for free! Klaus also loved his co-workers.  There was Sara, who was currently working the till, she was originally from Bakran, which was a country Klaus wa embarrassed to admit he had never heard of before meeting her.  She was so bright and funny, and had such an amazing life planned out for herself, she wanted to get into politics and was studying political science at university, Klause hadn't even known that was a thing people studied, Sara was such a new world to him. She loved reading and often gave Klaus new books to read, which meant Ben got to read them, which made Ben love Sara too. 

There was also another young man in his early 20s, Thomas, who was from London and considered himself very worldly.  He had been traveling since he finished high school and had lots of mad stories from different cities.  He dressed if anything, more flamboyantly than Klaus, and the two of them encouraged each other to outdo themselves.  Thomas liked to put on music from different countries or of lesser known American bands, or songs from different eras.  Klaus learned about so many new bands he loved from Thomas.  Though Thomas wasn't studying he was very knowledgeable and was obsessed with music history, he spent hours chatting to Klaus about the evolution of rock and punk and grunge.  Thomas would have probably been very embarrassed to learn that Klaus had been internationally famous as a youth for such an odd and fascinating reason, because he tried so hard to cultivate the air of beng exoitic and intersting.  But Klaus  never wanted to burst his bubble, he adored Thomas and did find him exotic and interesting, but maybe not in the way Thomas expected.  Klaus had never met anyone who had so few expectations from his family to do anything.  Thomas's family seemed to be perfectly happy for him to just enjoy his life and nothing else.  What an incredible concept.  There were a few other casuals but these two were his favourite.  

Klaus was sometimes expected to do less fun work, like balancing the till, or restocking shelves.  But mostly Klaus loved his job, and had been good about balancing getting high and drunk with staying sober enough to work.  He still got messed up on the weekends but he only got drunk or smoked weed on workdays.  He make sure to eat at least lunch and dinner most days, he made a point of always carrying a bottle of water around with him.  

The only thing that wasn't going so well was dealing with the ghosts.  They did not like to fit any kind of schedule and just showed up whenever they pleased.  He had to be quite firm with them while he was at work or he would have already lost his job.  It wasn't easy though, a week ago he was talking to a girl his age who seemed to be a normal, lively customer, he was joking and chatting about music, and holding up a dress next to her to say she would look _amazing_ in it, when his hand brushed her arm and phased right through it.  Klaus had quickly looked around and saw Sara was watching him with an expressing caught between amused and concerned.

"uh, just practicing my A game...you know, for customers..."  Klaus told her, giving her his best convincing grin.  

Sara returned his smile and went back to what she was doing so he got away with it.  A few days later he had been talking to another customer, this one he was sure was alive because he brushed her shoulder earlier in a quick friendly gesture as he told her to call for him if she needed anything.  He was talking to her about some sizing options for jeans when a disgustingly mangled ghost walked into the shop and made a beeline for Klaus, phasing through clothes and people as it approached.  Klaus faltured mid sentence and turned away from his customer suddenly to gag.  The girl had been a bit shocked at his sudden change in behaviour.  He hurriedly apologise explained that he got sudden headaches. She had been sympathetic but left without buying anything.  

Klaus went about his work, the ghost continued to follow him silently.  It was unsettling but he could handle it.  Later though, he swapped with Sara and another, less considerate ghost showed up.

"I was murdered!"  The ghost yelled as it ran towards Klaus.  They had been a large, balding, middle aged man in life.  They had presumably been stabbed to death if the bleeding wounds to the chest were anything to go by.  It took all of Klaus's will power not to react, he was still squeamish despite all his experience with gore.  He did jump a little when first saw the large, dead, blood splattered man running towards him.  But the customer he was with had been looking at the pile of clothes she was unloading from her arms onto the counter and didn't notice.  

Klaus internally began his mantra of  _They can't touch you, they can't touch you, they can't touch you,_ struggling to keep his composure and pretend he was in a normal situation.  He plastered a serene smile on his face and continue scanning clothes.  

"Come on I know you can hear me."  The ghost continued urgently.  "Please it's an emergency!"  The ghost gestured at his stab wounds.  "I was murdered!"

Klaus continued to ignore the ghost.  But as soon as he was done with his sale he asked Thomas to cover for him while he went out for a cigarette.

"Oh course."  Thomas told him easily.  "Everything alright mate?"  He asked noticing how pale and jittery Klaus seemed.  

"Everything is wonderful."  Klaus told him blowing him a kiss as he walked out.  The ghost of the murdered man followed, still nagging Klaus to help him, the murdered woman followed silently.

"Ok you seriously need to shut up."  Klaus snapped at the man as soon as they were out of sight. "God!" He lit a cigarette to support his story, and because he really needed one now.

They were out the back of the shop in the staff car park, Ben was out there, sitting in the sunshine and reading a book Sara had lent to Klaus a few days ago. He looked up with mind surprise at seeing Klaus.

"Oh shit, sorry bro, didn't see those two coming."  He said with a slightly guilty smile. Ben couldn't stop other ghosts from coming to talk to Klaus, but he could warn Klaus they were coming.  And sometimes he could convince the ghost to wait until Klaus finished work.  

"It's ok Benny."  Klaus told his brother, taking a long drag of his cigarette.  "You deserve your me time like everyone else."

"Would you listen to me already?"  The stabbed ghost demanded.  "I was murdered for god's sake."

Klaus huffed a put upon sigh, rolling his eyes.  "No, you have to wait until I finish work, I can't talk to you in front of other people."

"But it's an emergency."  The ghost argued.

"How?"  Klaus asked.

"I was murdered." The ghost said emphatically, like that should be obvious. 

Klaus eyed him up and down.  "Yeah but when?"

"Huh?"  The ghost asked, puzzled.  "Does it matter?"

Klaus took another drag.  "Oh yeah, a lot."

The ghost seemed to think.  "I'm not sure, maybe last night..."

"Yeah well you're dressed like it's the 70s." Klaus told him.

"I...what?...What's that got to do with anything?" 

"What year do you think it is?"  Klaus pressed.

"1975?"  The ghost guessed.

"Nope, 2008."  Klaus finished his cigarette and flicked it through the dead man.  "So...not an emergency."  Klaus turned and walked back towards the building.

"Don't talk to me inside."  He called over his shoulder.  "Or I won't help you at all."

"But..." he stared after Klaus helplessly. "It's 2008?"

The ghosts didn't follow Klaus back into the shop but they were still waiting for him when he finished work.  

Klaus sighed, resigned.

"Ok then follow me, we'll get this over with."  He led the ghosts a few blocks from his work to an old abandoned basketball court, overgrown with weeds bursting through the cracks in the pavement and cluttered with discarded furniture and piles of broken bricks and plaster.  Klaus flopped gracelessly on a rotting couch.  

"Ok here's how this works..." Klaus told his ghost entourage.  "...Or has Ben already filled you in?"

"No."  Ben scowled at the ghost man.  "This guy won't listen to a word I say.  Kept asking stupid questions about stuff that's happened since he died, like who won the past 33 superbowls, and have we started building houses on the moon."

Klaus grinned at this. "well look pal, these are the rules, first off, very important, you can't bother me during work."

"But you're just selling clothes." The ghost complained.  "I was murdered, don't you think that is more important?"

Klaus gasped, offended.

"How dare you!  My job is important, besides, what did you ever do with your life that was so special huh?"

"Um, I was a manager at an electrical appliance chain." The ghost admitted.

"Well anyway rule number two is no criticizing my lifestyle choices."  Klaus told him.  "That one goes for you too Ben."  Klaus added.  Ben just scoffed.

"Anyway, after work I will spend up to 2 hours helping ghosts, but that's all, after that you won't be able to talk to me, don't bother trying I won't be able to see you because I'll be on a whole different wavelength."

"He's telling the truth."  Ben told the other ghosts.  "After too hours he gets high to shut you all out, is ability doesn't work if he's high, and don't try and sneak extra time by bothering him at work, if you make him lose his job he's just going to get high all the time so he won't be able to see you then anyway."

"What are you talking about?  Getting high, I need you to help the police catch my murderer."  The ghost man told them.  

"I'm not sure I can do much but I'll try I guess."  Klaus sighed.  "But you gotta follow the rules ok."

"Fine."  The ghost agreed mulishly.  

"What about you?"  Klaus asked the ghost woman.  She gave no indication of having heard but she had been well behaved so Klaus let it go, some ghosts were like that, unable to interact properly, he didn't know why.

"Alright let's get some details.  What's your name?"  He asked the stabbed man.  "Date of birth?  Where did you live?"

"Phil Leaderman."  The ghost told him. "January 14th,1928 and Chicago, Illinois." 

"And do you remember anything about the murder?  When did it happened? Where were you?  Did you see your attacker?"

"You're getting good at this." Ben encouraged from the sidelines. 

"Thanks, I've been watching Law and Order."  Klaus admitted.

"I was at work, no leaving work, I was leaving work, they were waiting for me outside, it was dark so I didn't notice them until it was too late."

"Ok..."  Klaus mulled this over for a moment.  "I'll check at the library on Saturday and see if I can find the newspaper article about your death, if you made the papers..."  

"That can't be all."  Phil objected.  "Can't you go to the police?"

"And tell them what?'

"I can give them a description of killer."  Phil insisted.

"Ok..."  Klaus pulled out another cigarette and swung his feet up onto a pile of poorly stacked bricks in front of him, getting comfortable.  "So I should just go to the police station, tell them I have information about a murder that happened... what?... 33 years ago and.... hundreds of miles away... to a complete stranger? They'll think I'm just nuts, they won't even look into it."

"You have to convince them."  Phil pleaded.  "You can't let my killer get away unpunished.

"Phil it was 33 years ago."  Klaus reminded him. 

"So?"

"So they could be dead, they could have already been caught?  That they could be an 80 year old man with senile dementia in a understaffed nursing home?"  

Phil sighed. "Ok well look into the newspaper thing then I guess."  He agreed sullenly. 

 

"So generous of you Phil."  Klaus grinned.  

"What about her?"  Ben asked gesturing to the woman ghost his a nod of his head.

Klaus frowned at her thoughtfully.  "I don't know, she can't talk so we may need to find another way to communicate with her."  He brightened.  "Oh lets get a ouija board!"

 


	5. Chapter 5

By the weekend Klaus had 6 ghosts following him around, 7 including Ben.  Phil and the strangled woman were still hanging around.  The day after he met Phil, Klaus acquired two more ghosts, they were a husband and wife who had died quietly in their sleep due to a carbon monoxide leak.  The Rentch's had not died violently, but they had been estranged from their son and wanted to know what happened to him before they felt they could pass on. The Rentch's son Jacob had left home in a fit of teenage rebellion three years before the couple's death.  The last time they spoke they had a horrible argument and both said things they regretted.  The Retch's had wanted their son to stay in school, get good grades and eventually a secure job.  Jacob had wanted to get high and play guitar in a grunge band he started with a few high school friends.  Klaus deeply sympathised with both points of view.  He was very touched that these parents cared about their child's wellbeing so much, but equally he thought getting high and playing music sounded great.  He really liked that the Rentchs didn't want or expect anything from their son now.  They simply wanted to know if he was happy and healthy before they passed on, they regretted being so judgemental of his choices. Also they had no gorey, visceral wounds so that was always a plus.

The 5th ghost had turned up at 6am screaming loud enough to wake Klaus from his pot hazy sleep.  He didn't think he could get away with getting high again considering he had to be at work by 10 so he put on a pot of coffee and listened to the ghost wail and bemoan their fate instead. Klaus could not understand a word he said, wasn't even sure what he ghost's name was, he spoke what Klaus thought might be some kind of semitic language based on his very limited knowledge of such things.  He seemed to be in his mid 20s and had very clearly died from a head wound.  He was dressed in long sleeve coveralls, the kind a janitor or mechanic might wear to protect their clothes underneath, but it wasn't obvious what decade he was from.  He paced around Klaus's room in the early morning, ranting to himself and seeming very frustrated with his situation.  He clearly did not understand Klaus's attempts to communicate with him, but did seem to catch on, if only from the actions of the other ghosts, that Klaus was not to be yelled at and that ghosts were not allowed inside Klaus's workplace. 

Later that day Klaus happened upon yet another ghost on his way home from work. Her name was Kelly Fisher, she was 34 and she had been killed several years ago by her boyfriend.  Unlike Phil she remembered exactly what had happened and who had killed her. She had been following her killer around since then, he had been caught almost immediately and gone to prison for her murder.  At first she had felt very satisfied to see him suffering in prison, but she had grown bored with it and taken to wandering the earth instead, looking for meaning and trying to work out what she was supposed to do next. 

Currently all ghosts trailed after Klaus like ducklings as he walked to the library.  

"I hope you all appreciate this."  Klaus muttered to them yawning, he was up much earlier than he would prefer.  "I'm using up part of my Saturday to help you all find eternal peace or whatever."

"What were you going to do with this time that was so important?"  Phil sneered.  

"Hey now, don't listen to him Klaus dear, it's very kind of you to help us." Mrs Retch protested. 

"This is why you are my favourite and I will be looking into your problem first."  Klaus beamed at the motherly ghost.

"No fair!  Phil moaned.  "I was here first, I should get to go first."  

"Actually she was here first."  Ben pointed out gesturing to the silent ghost of the strangled woman.  

"What can you even do for her?  She can't talk to you."  Phil scoffed.

Klaus frowned sadly at this ghost.  Klaus found her unbearably sad, he honestly didn't know how he could help her or if she would ever leave.  She was yet to say or do anything other than slowly shuffle after him. She obeyed basic commands like, "Don't follow me into this room."  Or "Please stand further away from me."  but she seemed unable to talk or gesture or indicate yes or no to questions.  Kalus had tried to use a ouija board he bought from a toy store after work one afternoon.  Klaus had been so excited with it for some reason. But when he set it up the woman just stood there, dead eyes filled with betrayal.

"What did you think was going to happen?"  Ben asked his brother, not unkindly, he was proud of Klaus trying to help others.  But it had seemed obvious to Ben the ghost woman would find communicating through of piece of cardboard no more easy than talking or gestures.  

Today Klaus and his ghost crew were going to the library to research their various problems. True to his word the first thing Klaus looked up once in the library was the Rentch's son.  He started by checking a list of missing persons but there was no sign of him, then a quick scan of the obituaries, then Klaus looked up the band Jacob had joined and found they were listed in a lineup for music festival in a few months time. 

"Oh my god we are going!"  Klaus cried delighted.  

"Quiet."  Ben shushed him.  "You're in a library... and talking to bunch of invisible people."

"This is going to be the best ghost quest ever!"  Klaus continued undaunted.

"Oh but it's so far away."  Mr Retch said looking at the address of the festival.  "How will you get there Klaus?"  

But Klaus brushed off his concerns.  "I'll hitch."

"That sounds very dangerous dear."  Mrs Wrench fretted.  

"Not for me."  Klaus told her proudly.  "I can spot a serial killer a mile off, they'll have a bunch of ghost hanging around them."

"Have you seen that before?"  Kelly asked alarmed.

"Sure, my dad made me track down mass murders all the time."  Klaus shrugged.  "Then he made Bennie boy here rip them apart with his tentacles."  

Ben rolled his eyes, Klaus loved to drop bombshells from their weird childhood as if it wasn't shocking and horrific.  As if he was telling a story about going to the zoo or maybe the movies.  

"What does he mean?  Kelly asked quietly, her eyes big and round.  She reminded Ben a little of Vanya, quiet and meek and thoughtful but with the occasional biting cynicism that let you know she had a backbone when she needed it.

"Ignore him."  Ben dismissed.

"Can we get around to my _murder_ now?"  Phil whined.

Kelly rolled her eyes to the silent woman's ghost.  "You'd think he was the only one around here who's been murdered."  She remarked.

"Ok, ok."  Klaus told Phil and started sifting through newspaper articles.  It took him a little while but eventually he found it.

"Oh here we go, you did make the papers Phil, front page too!  Bet you're smug about that."

Phil gaped at the article as he read.  "This can't be correct."  He whispered.

The article explained that Phil had been killed in a robbery  wrong at his place of business, the thief waited until he saw Phil leave but Phil came back to get a file he forgot. His killer, a young man named Dan Smith, then stole a bunch of appliances and later pawned them, which was how the police were able to track him down.  Unfortunately by the time the police found the man he had already died from a heroin overdose.  There was a small photo of Smith, an awkward looking young man with long, mournful face and a thin scruffy beard.

"Well... you kind of got justice."  Klaus told Phil.  "You know, because he bought the heroin that killed him with the ill gotten fruits of your murder."  

"He didn't kill me."  Phil said firmly.

"Huh?"  Klaus quirked an eyebrow at the ghost.  "Are you reading the same article as me?"

"It's wrong, I saw the guy who killed me and it wasn't this guy."  Phil insisted.

"You barely remember what happened."  Klaus told him exasperated. 

"I remember what my killer looked like and that's not him."  Phil maintained stubbornly.

"Ok, ok ok."  Klaus sighed and rubbed his face with both hands.  "That may be true but...what else can I do?"  

"Tell the police what I know."

"For christ sake Phil we've been over this, I can't, they'll think I'm nuts."

"Like everyone else in this library does since you're yelling at nothing."  Ben reminded Klaus again, wishing his brother would _try_ and keep his voice down.  He was getting some odd looks from the other library patrons, the librarian seemed to be internally debating if it was wise to go over and tell him to shut up.

Phil was outraged, he stomped off, but didn't go far, Klaus could still hear him ranting and stomping around elsewhere in the library.  Klaus rolled his eyes and continued to research for his next ghost.  He bought up a world map. 

"Ok you mysterious stranger."  Klaus addressed the ghost of the young man who didn't speak english.  "Point out where you are from."  Klaus gesterused to the map.

The man looked at the map, then at Klaus, then seemed inexplicably furious.  He started yelling at Klaus, waving his arms in anger.

"Aw, maps make me pretty mad sometimes too..."  Klaus told the ghost in an understanding voice.  

Ben however was not amused.  "If you don't want his help you can just leave."  

Klaus waved off Ben's defence.  "Don't worry Ben."  He sighed.  "He probably doesn't understand I'm trying to help, maybe he thinks I'm telling him to leave the country or something."  Klaus reasoned. He was being more patient with this ghost than normal for fairly shallow reasons.  He found the young man very attractive, he was tall and well built with sharp black eyes and curly dark hair that mostly hid his fatal wound.  He had a certain  intensity about him, dark and brooding, a bit like Diego really...

Kelly and Mrs Rentch were trying to console the angry ghost to no avail.   

"Don't worry, he'll calm down on his own."  Klaus told them waving Kelly over.  "Anyway it's your turn girl." 

"Well, I'm not sure where to start."  Kelly admitted.  "I think I just want to move on to the next phase of existence but I don't know how."  She mused.

"We could get out some books on the afterlife and look into some theories I guess."  Klaus suggested.  So that is what they did.  Klaus checked out a bunch of books about various religions and theories on the afterlife.  He spent the rest of the day lazing on the couch watching cartoons and smoking cones. Every now and then Ben would ask him to flip a page of one of the books, Kelly and Ben were reading together but now that Klaus was high Ben was the only one who could talk to him.  Later that evening while Klaus was getting ready to go out he noticed Ben watching him with a soft, fond smile.

 

"What?"  he asked pausing in the middle of applying eyeliner so he had one black ringed eye and one normal.

"Nothing."  Ben grinned at his brothers lopsided look.  "I'm just happy..."

Klaus's face broke into a delighted grin.  "Me too Ben.  Hey let's go visit Diego tomorrow!  He's going to be so thrilled to see how much I have my shit together!"

 

 

 

  


	6. Chapter 6

Diego was not nearly as impressed by Klaus's achievements as Klaus had expected. 

Klaus hadn't  envisioned lavish praise for getting poorly paid work four days a week or for securing a shabby, poorly kept apartment.  But Klaus had expected that Diego would see he was trying, and that it was hard for him but he was trying anyway.  He had expected the Diego version of Ben's proud little smile the evening before, that had prompted him to want to visit his brother.  Klaus did not get off to a good start though, he was almost an hour late to meet Diego for coffee.  But really, he thought as he finally joined Diego in the booth, what had he expected to happen when he insisted they meet in the _morning_?  On a _Sunday_?  

"Sorry..."  Klaus pulled his cutest guilty face at Diego as he slid into his seat.  "I ended up on the other side of town last night, got a little lost on the way."  He eyes flicked off to the side as he saw Ben scoff about this.

"Just tell him you slept in, your excuse is no less annoying."  He chastised.

But Klaus bit his tongue and didn't say anything, Diego was already looking pissy, patience wasn't his suit and found being kept waiting particularly rankling.  

"I thought you said you were doing better?"  He said looking Klaus up and down, frowning in a way that seemed caught between concern and disappointment.  

Klaus was genuinely puzzled.  "Huh?  I'm doing great, what are talking about?" 

"You're high."  Diego accused, and he could tell, he knew the signs, the odd floaty way Klaus moved, the spaced out, unfocussed expression, the glassy eyes.

"So what? It's Sunday?"  Klaus shrugged.   

"Klaus." Diego sighed.  "You can't keep doing this shit. You'll end up in hospital again."

Klaus was baffled, he had not seen the conversation going this way at all.  He was healthier than he had been in years, he had been eating and drinking water and sleeping enough to satisfy most people's idea of healthy for _four weeks,_ he had felt like he was achieving so much so quickly.  He had thought he was looking positively robust with health and vitality.  Ok maybe not at this _exact_ moment, since he had been up most of the night on MDMA, only managing to transition from an uppers high to a downers high and finally drift off three hours before he had agreed to meet Diego.  He woke up about 15 minutes ago to Ben yelling at him that he was already late and better run before Diego just left.  He hadn't had time to change his clothes or fix his hair or make up.  He glanced at himself in the shiny surface of the napkin dispenser on their table and saw his eyeliner was beginning to resemble a racoon mask and his hair looked like the nest of a confused bird.

Diego glanced at his watch, impatient.  "I don't really have time to stay now."  He said.  There was an air of agitated nervousness about him that Klaus thought may have nothing to do with him at all.  

"Everything ok with you?"  Klaus asked his brother softley, kicking himself for not getting there on time so he could have spoke with Diego longer.

Diego nodded his head, and huffed, as if to let Klaus know he knew he was just trying to change the subject.

" _I'm_ fine."  He said like it should be obvious, but his dark eyes still seemed troubled, focussed on something far away.

"How's your training coming along?  Are you a detective yet?"  Klaus pushed gently.

"No it takes ages for that."  Diego scowled at him.  

"But your enjoying it right?"  Klaus pressed.

"Sure."  Diego shrugged.  "It's just there are so many rules now that stop me from helping people." Diego admitted finally.

"Oh?"  Klaus folded his hands and tilted his head, listening.

"It's just...when we were kids...in the academy...the most important thing was getting the bad guys, saving the people...now it's all rules and protocol." Diego toyed with an empty cup of coffee he had presumably drunk while waiting for Klaus.  "it's frustrating."  He admitted.

"Diego."  Klaus said and waited for Diego to look up from the cup and meet his eyes.  "What we had to do as kids was fucked up..."

Diego cut him off before he could get any further by getting up to leave.

"I know ok, it's just frustrating that I learnt all these skills but I can't use them." He took a few bills out of his wallet and dropped them on the table.  

"Don't leave."  Klaus protested.  "You just got here."

" _Y_ _ou_ just got here."  Diego disagreed, he paused before he walked off.  "Look Klaus I'm glad you got a job, and your own place and you're taking...less drugs... or whatever but don't you think we could be doing something more meaningful with our lives?"  

Klaus bowed his head, he felt a wave of depression that was probably in part due to his body having used up all his available serotonin the previous night.  He fought it down.  Diego was wrong, their lives were meaningful even if they weren't a bunch of super powered crime fighters, it was just absurd to Klaus that Diego would feel this way.  He wanted to explain this to his brother but when he looked up Diego had already disappeared like a ninja.  Klaus slipped out of the cafe without buying anything. He shuffled along the street, looking like a kicked puppy. 

"He just doesn't see it yet."  Ben consoled him as the walked along.  "But he will, if you keep this up."  Ben wanted to scold Klaus for getting so wasted last night that he was a mess for Diego, but he thought that Klaus had enough scolding so he opted for encouragement instead.  "Besides, it seemed like Diego had his own shit going on."

"Yeah it did didn't it."  Klaus mused thoughtfully as he walked along.  "We should keep more of an eye on him Bennie."  Klaus said going to clap Ben on the shoulder but instead just swiping through his intangible body.

By the time they got home Klaus was sober enough to see the other ghosts milling around.  He noticed to his dismay there was a new one. She was huddled at his kitchen table sobbing so he didn't get a good look at her, but assumed she must be in a bad way from the way Mrs Rentch and Kelly were interacting with her.  Kelly was sitting next to her whispering something in a soothing tone.  Mrs Rentch had her arm hovering to give the impression of a comforting hand on her back.  

"Morning Klaus, how was breakfast with your brother?"  Mrs Rentch asked him pleasantly, she glanced meaningfully at the crying girl as if to say, "can you deal with this when you get a chance."

"Well apart from him thinking I'm a useless fuck up it was pretty good I suppose."  Klaus lamented dryly.  

"You _were_ pretty late."  Phil remarked without looking up from the TV Klaus had thoughtfully left on for the ghosts.

"No one asked you."  Klaus snapped at the ghost.  "Why don't you cross over already you big pain in the ass?"  he scowled.  Phil just shrugged nonplussed.  

"Who's the new girl?"  He asked.  She was around Klaus's age, and like him hadn't grown out of the skinny, lanky teenage look yet.  Hearing him speak about her prompted her to look up at him with big, watery eyes.

"I've been trying to talk to you since last night."  She sobbed.

Klaus sighed, it seemed like he couldn't do anything without being a colossal disappointment to everyone around him.

"I'm sorry."  He told the girl.  "I wasn't ignoring you, I just couldn't hear you then."

The girl nodded.  She was calming down now.  

"So what happened to you?"  Klaus asked her.

 "I was at a club...then everything went fuzzy..."  The girl frowned, she was wearing makeup as smudged as Klaus's.  "there was a man I think...I wanted to leave but my body felt so heavy...then I was choking..."  She started sobbing again.

Klaus blanched when he added up her story.

"What's your name?"  He asked her more softly.  

"April."  The girl cried.  

 "I'm sorry that happened to you April."  Klaus told her genuinely, he felt a pang of guilt for being so caught up in his own problems.  

"At least I don't really remember the worst parts."  She told him with a wan, teary smile.

"Yeah, you look on that bright side."  Klaus encouraged.  

"Oh but my family."  April burst into tears again.  "How are they going to cope with this?"  She gestured down at herself, her dress was ripped, she had bruises on her legs and arms, like she had been held down.

Klaus but his lip and looked away, feeling out of his depth and overwhelmed.  He glanced longingly at his bong, one cone and this girl wasn't his problem anymore.  But no he couldn't do that to April, she was just a kid really.

"Do you think they know already?"  April asked Klaus tearfully.

"When did you die?"  He asked her.  

"Um...last night... I think?"

Phil scoffed from over on the couch. "Huh, what year do you think it is?"  He asked.

"1996?"  April asked.

Phil scoffed again, Klaus shot him a withering glare.

"I'm sorry to break this to you but that was 12 years ago."  Klaus told her hesitantly, knowing it wouldn't go down well but not knowing how to soften the blow.  

April became completely hysterical at this news and retreated into herself.  Klaus tied to comfort her for a few minutes but then gave up and left her to process.  He grabbed his bong and packed a cone, flopping down on the couch next to Phil.  

"It's been a long morning."  He hissed when he noticed Phil side eye him.  Then he flicked the lighter and pulled the smoke into his lungs.  Watching Phil hold his hands up in a _"I didn't say anything"_ kind of way as he faded out of existence.  

"You ok?"  Ben asked, he was sitting up on the back of the couch.  It would have seemed an odd choice to Klaus if he hadn't known Phil was taking up the other seat of the couch. It made him wonder how many times he had thought Ben was sitting in a strange place just to be weird and quirky, he had actually been avoiding other ghosts.  

"It's just a lot."  Klaus admitted.  "People who become ghosts usually died in traumatic ways."

"I know."  Ben told him.  "It's very sad to hear about all the shitty things in the world, first hand, from the victims."

"I'm always caught between feeling guilty I don't do more and feeling like, why should I be the one to do this?  I didn't sign up for it, I certainly don't have the disposition for it."  Klaus grabbed the remote, the TV was on the news and Klaus did not want to know.  He flicked through the channels until he found something dull and meaningless.

"It's strange how different they are."  Klaus remarked to Ben.  "For some of them it's like they don't notice the passage of time until they talk to me, then others get caught in their last moment forever, then some are just normal, like you and Kelly."

"It's probably something you'll work out over time."  Ben said confidently.

"Sure, after years and years of this."  Klaus said, his voice sounded hollow as he thought about spending his life, day in, day out with the ghosts of victims of violent tragedies. 

"Hey come on now."  Ben cajoled.  "It's not all bad, you just feel like shit because you used up all your happy chemicals last night.  You'll feel better once you get some rest and let your brain make some more."  

"I'm already feeling better."  Klaus said packing another cone.  Ben pointedly didn't say anything.  He let Klaus relax and watch TV, refusing to say anything when the other ghosts pestered him to relay messages to Klaus.  But as he watched Klaus smoke himself into oblivion he wondered again if he was enabling his brother, and felt annoyed he had died before getting enough life experience to be confident he was making the right decisions in all this.


	7. Chapter 7

"Klaus you can't keep coming in late."  Sara told him worriedly as she saw him furtively sneaking in the shop 20 minutes after his shift was meant to begin.  

"Sorry, sorry, sorry."  Klaus glided over and swooped her up in a hug.  "Never again I promise."  He told her with a sincerity that would have been more convincing if he hadn't used it the previous three times he was late.

"It's not me you have to worry about."  Sara reminded him, and she was right, Klaus was on thin ice with the managers already.  He had  been taking the odd day off here and there, which was already verging on a problem, but then last month had taken a few days off to see a music festival and came back 2 days later than promised with a lame excuse about getting food poisoning from the festival food. He had been such a mess too, all spaced out and useless for several days, it was obvious he'd been on a massive bender.  She watched Klaus flit about the shop, straightening things, singing along to the music, calling out cheerfully to customers, doing very little actual work.  She would miss him terribly if he got fired so she had resolved to cover for him as much as she could. She hoped that whatever had caused Klaus to be late or miss work so much over the past few months, would pass and things would go back to normal.

"Thomas!"  Klaus greets, as he swans past his other co-worker.  "How was your evening?"

"Completely futile and disappointing."  Thomas telles him but his voice is filled with cheer, he had told Klaus the previous day about a date he had planned, with a guy he had been flirting with for several weeks.  "Absolutely rubbish in the sack." He looked up from the shoes he was repricing to give Klaus lopsided grin.  "The highlight of the night was that he had Fallout Three." He shrugged and went back to his shoes.

Klaus did not know what fall out three was but he gave Thomas a commiserating clap on the back.

"Well better luck next time."

"Speaking of next time...:"  Thomas looked up with a wicked grin.  "My friend invited me to an exhibition opening tonight, want to come?  There will be free drinks."

Klaus grimaced with regret.  "Yeah I'm trying no to go out during the week."  

"Just don't stay out too late, we'll leave early, at like 10 even if you like."  Thomas told him.

"Hmm ok, but I'm not very good at stopping once I start you know?"  Klaus admitted.  "You will have to be firm with me, made sure I go home at a reasonable time."

Thomas grinned at his friend.  "Don't worry cinderella, I'll have you back home at a reasonable hour." 

They joked around throughout the day like usual but Thomas noticed there was something off about Klaus.  He kept jumping and flinching at nothing.  At one point Thomas had been on the opposite side of a rack of clothes to Klaus and saw him having a whispered conversation with the wall.  Thomas tried several times to let Klaus know he was there if he needed to talk, but he was met with deflection each time.  

Klaus fitted in at the gallery opening seamlessly as if he went to things like it all the time.  And Thomas supposed he had no reason to think Klaus didn't, except that Klaus has these weird knowledge gaps about a lot of pop culture stuff.  He had assumed that extended to art. Far from being out of his depth Klaus seemed to be having a great time.  Thomas wasn't disappointed exactly, but he had kind of hoped that this would be an opportunity for him to impress Klaus.  Thomas adored Klaus, he was what Thomas had always strived to be but felt he never quite achieved.  He was _interesting_.  There was just something about him, people looked at him and wondered.  "Who is that guy?"  

Thomas wanted that, he especially wanted Klaus to think this about him.  At least they were both having fun.

"We should probably leave soon."  Thomas told Klaus the next time their paths crossed as they mingled.  "It's already half eleven."  

"One more drink."  Klaus said snagging a glass of white wine from a passing waiter. Thomas hadn't been drinking much, the wine tasted like it might come from a box, but Klaus had been hitting it pretty heavy and had a flush to his cheeks and an unfocused look in his eyes.  

"You did say I had to be firm with you."  Thomas grinned trying to take the glass from Klaus.  

"Ha, your going to have to be much firmer than this tough guy." Klaus laughed and held the glass up so Thomas couldn't reach it.  As he did the fabric of his sleeve slid down, revealing the tattoo on his forearm.  

"Oh it is you!"  A lady in her early thirties, dressed in expensively weathered jeans and designer top zeroed in on them.  "I thought so but I wasn't sure until I saw the tattoo!  You're number 4 right?  From the umbrella academy?" 

Klaus's expression morphed from the polite confusion of trying to fit a name to a face when someone recognises you but you don't recognise them,  to the look of a deer in the headlights. 

"I...well...not anymore."  He faltered and took a massive gulp of wine.

Another person from the crowd, a man in a tight-fitting suit and  his hair spiked into that side parted quiff everyone seemed to have at the moment, joined in. 

"Oh my god you're right!"  The new comer beamed.  "What powers did you have again?"

"What?  Are they right?"  Thomas looked at Klaus, confused and embarrassed.  He had noticed Klaus's tattoo before and remarked that Klaus must be a big umbrella academy fan.  All Klaus had said was that he used to be but wasn't anymore.

"Bet you regret getting that tattooed permanently on your skin then."  Thomas had teased.

"Oh you have no idea!"  Klaus had agreed grinning.

Thomas looked to Klaus, hurt and confused, as he remembered this, why hadn't he said anything?

Klaus shuffled uncomfortably. 

More people were drawing around him, asking about his powers, about his sister's acting.

"Well, this has been fun...but I was about to leave."  Klaus told them.

"Oh no don't leave." The first woman cried.  "If you're tired I have just the thing."  She gave a small nod to the bathrooms.  

This easily swayed Klaus, the offer of what he assumed would be free cocaine was too good to turn down even if his resolved hadn't already been weakened with drinking.  

"Klaus, come on we have work tomorrow."  Thomas told him as Klaus was being led away.

"Oh sure Tommy, just 15 more minutes then we'll go I swear." Klaus said as he disappeared into the women's toilets with a woman on either arm, guiding him along.  

Thomas waited for half an hour but never managed to catch sight of Klaus again so left by himself.

 

The next day Klaus failed to show up to work and was fired.  Thomas desperately wanted to speak to Klaus, but Klaus didn't have a phone, and he had never been to his house so he didn't know how to ever find him again.  His only hope was for Klaus to come to see him at the shop, or that they run into each other in the street maybe.  He worried he would never get a chance to speak to him again.  Never find out if he was ok.  He tortured himself by looking up old articles on the umbrella academy.  The details both written and implied horrified him, one of the children had gone missing, one had died horrifically, the articles on crime fighting petered out and there was instead articles on Klaus getting into trouble, or going to rehab, or speculating on his sexuality or gender identity.  It must have been horrible to be under that kind of scrutiny at such a young age Thomas thought.  The next time they were on shift together Thomas sulked around the counter so he could be comforted by Sara.

"Stop beating yourself up, It really wasn't your fault."  She told him.  

"He was trying not to go out during the week, he told me, I shouldn't have pushed him."  Thomas moaned.

"That doesn't make it your fault he decided to drop you and go off with a bunch of strangers to get high all night and blow off work."  Sara argued.

Thomas sighed, he should be doing work right now but he didn't care.  "I was upset at first too but I've been thinking about it...his childhood must have been messed up, it's no wonder he didn't want to talk about it."

"I don't know that much about it."  Sara shrugged.  "They weren't that popular were I grew up, I always kind of assumed it was mostly staged, you know, like reality TV."

"Me too."  Thomas admitted.  "Or at least embellished."  

"But why do you think he had a bad childhood?  His sister, the famous one,she seems pretty together for a child star."  Sara pointed out.

"I don't really know her, what movies is she in?" Thomas asked.

"Oh you wouldn't know them, she mostly does rom coms and you probably only watch french arthouse films from the 1960s or whatever."  She mocked him fondly.

Thomas smirked at her jibe.  Then turn morose again.  "Yeah but you have to admit it's all pretty fucked up,  Like, their father pretty much bought them."  

"What?!"

"At least, the media heavily implied he did..."  Thomas said, his voice going low and conspiratorial. "I mean how else did he get seven of them?"

"Why was he allowed to do that?"  Sara asked, appalled.

"Right!?"  Thomas agreed.  "And why were they allowed to fight crime?  As children?  Didn't the police have a problem with that?"

"America is so weird."  Sara agreed.

 

 

 


	8. Chapter 8

Even before Klaus had lost his job the cracks were beginning to show in his new lifestyle.  Over the weeks more and more ghosts would show up wanting his help.  Soon there were too many ghosts for Klaus to conceivably deal with in only two hours a day.  He had to keep pushing his time frame back a little more each night to get through the backlog. Which meant pushing sleep back a bit each night, and Klaus had an inclination to stay up too late to begin with.  He had been trying to deal with the ghosts outside of his home, so he could better separate them from the rest of his life, but now for convenience sake he gave that up.  Seeing how harried he was begging to seem, Kelly suggested he might find it easier if he got a job that incorporated dealing with ghosts.  Like if he got some type of work as a medium. 

"Hah you think I never thought about it?"  He smirked. "Never once considered I could use my superpower to make money?  What kind of a chump do you think I am Kelly?  He laughed.

"Of course I did!  but trust me it's not worth it.  Say I try and do a crossing over with John Edward's type gig, get some grieving family members who want to reconnect.  They'd be all "Oh please can you channel the ghost of this specific person I care about?"  meanwhile the only ghosts who show up are a rando who died of childbirth in 1738, and some dingus who fell out of a tree 7 months ago, no one wants to pay for that kind of nonsense, I'd have to make shit up like all those other hacks." 

"Maybe Diego could help you get work with the police?"  Ben suggested.  

"Oh yeah great except you're forgetting two important details."  Klaus told him.  "one; I would have to hang out with cops all day..."  Klaus sent a pointed look to his bong, sitting on his kitchen table, waiting for the moment he got through the night's list of ghosts.  "...and two; I love my job, I don't think I would be doing so well if I didn't have something normal to do for 5 hours a day...and have friends who are...you know...living people...no offence."

"None taken."  Kelly said. "I hate how entitled some of these stupid dead guys are, I mean, when I was alive, if some stranger came up to me and demanded my help with a really intense problem, I probably would have told them to fuck off."  Kelly shrugged.  "And I was an adult."

"I'm an adult."  Klaus argued, he had recently turned 20.

"I'm not insulting you, I'm trying to say I wouldn't have handled what you are going through when I was at the peak of my game in life, so you should be proud you're doing so well."

Klaus beamed at her. "Thank you!  I am doing well!  I know it but when everyone around you thinks you're a fuck up it's hard to maintain a positive self image."

Ben nodded. "I guess other people don't get it, but it is really hard for us and all our siblings to just do normal life things."  

"Being forced to deal with death and violence from a young age must have been difficult."  Kelly agreed.

"Well yeah but that's not what I was even thinking of."  Klaus told her.  "My mother was literally a robot."  He gave her a pointed look, waiting for that to sink in.  He loved the pop eyed fascination and horror he got from people when he casually mentioned things like this.  "So can you imagine... learning life skills when the only adults in your life are a robot, a chimp and...like...the worst person you've ever met?"  

"Yeah..."   Kelly was at a loss. "..wait did you say chimp?"

"He had human-like intelligence and speech...I think our father...made him?  I never asked, it was a super uncomfortable topic."  Klaus admitted.

They couldn't talk anymore about the topic though because Klaus needed to get through all the other ghosts.  He needed to speak to everyone at least long enough to motivate them to continually stick to his rules.  But he also genuinely wanted to help, the more time he spent with the ghosts the more he got caught up in their problems. Klaus could be selfish and vapid at times but he was at heart a very compassionate person and found the suffering of others more painful than his own.  He really did try to help them, he was just trying to be realistic, based on past experience, of how much of his time he could handle devoting to the ghosts without it breaking him.    

For some ghosts, the time Klaus was willing to give them was not enough and they became incensed and yelled at him until he had no choice but to retreat behind the drugs. This sucked and teneded to have an accumulative effect, if one ghost started to be unreasonable and made it difficult for Klaus to function, he would be less able to deal with the rest of the queue and then the polite and patient ghosts would start to consider if being polite and patient was getting them what they wanted.  But the angry ghosts weren't even the worst part. The most disheartening thing for Klaus was that it never really felt like he was fixing anything for anyone, even the ones he really wanted to help. More often than not the ghosts moved on without Klaus being able to do anything productive for them so he never got sense of accomplishment or closure. The angry young ghost who spoke no english had left without Klaus ever knowing what had happened to him or what he had wanted.  April also left after a few days, she realised quickly that Klaus couldn't really do anything for her and that seeing her upset him, her death was just too close to home for him.  Many ghosts Klaus barely remembered, and were merely part of a continuous assembly line, quickly replaced with new ghosts.  There was the ghost of a math teacher killed in a school shooting, the ghost of a motorcyclist with a shattered leg, the ghost of an Italian woman from the 1800s who died of Cholera, the ghost of a policeman with a gunshot through his chest, the ghosts of four sombre cult members who had poisoned themselves in the 1960s, all these ghosts came and went, like customers at the shop where Klaus worked, and he barely remembered them the second he stopped talking to them.  Other ghosts lingered,  like Phil Leaderman, who insisted he wasn't going anywhere until Klaus helped him solve his murder.  Phil wasn't disruptive in normal life but he was a bit of a boring old grump.  It was just odd, and annoying that a stranger he had no interest in, and could do nothing for should be part of his life for months on end.

Kelly was similar in that she wasn't at all inconvenient but wasn't a huge help.  She seemed to have stayed mainly for lack of a better plan, not actually wanting Klaus to do anything.  Kelly liked to read and the only way she could do that was if Klaus turned pages for her, apart from this she had no desire to interact with the world. Ben showed her how to conjure books to read but they could only do that for books they had already read, so for new book they had to nag Klaus. But they also both tried to be considerate of his needs for space and to help him manage the other ghosts in return for his kindness. A much more difficult customer was the ghost of a 86 year old man with senile dementia.  This ghost was utterly incapable of following Klaus's rule of not bothering him at work, because he was as addled as a ghost as he had been in his final years of life.  The ghost or "Bertie"  as he liked be called, also had the fascinating habit of morphing into whatever age he thought he was when lost in his memories. 

"It does kind of support my theory that ghosts have at least some kind of mental control over how they look."  Ben remarked as he and Klaus watched Bertie transform from a little stooped old man to a middle aged man with a bald spot and a pot gut, to an attractive young man with dark hair and mischievous eyes.

"Yeah plus it's pretty trippy."  Klaus remarked, sipping his coffee.

Bertie wandered off after a few days but during the time he was there Klaus had to deal with him all day at work, then during the hours of the evening allotted to helping ghosts. Bertie was insistent and distracting, which upset the ghosts who had waited patiently all day for the chance to talk to Klaus.  In a standard day Klaus would have between one and three ghosts show up wanting to talk to him. Often they just needed that first interaction for it to be obvious to both Klaus and the ghost that Klaus could not help them.  In many occasion they ghosts did not realise how long it had been since they died, their death seemed so urgent to them it was like it had just happened.  On learning that they had actually been dead for some time, maybe even too long for their to be any one left he would even give a shit about heir death anymore, the ghost just wandered off looking stunned. Some ghosts though, had simple tangible things Klaus could help with.  Things like sending a letter to a loved one telling them where something was hidden.  Or to check up on someone to make sure they were safe.

The worst ghost he had to deal with was named Theo.  Klaus didn't know how Theo died, or when he had died or what he wanted because Theo was only three and therefore not great at stringing together a narrative. He wasn't the first little kid ghost Klaus had met, but he never got used to it.  Little kid ghost's were just so sad!  And he always felt like such a jerk shutting them out.  He couldn't understand when Klaus didn't acknowledge him and would cry and throw tantrums.  Klaud tried to minimise upsetting the child of coarse, he wasn't a monster, but he also had to not act like a crazy person in public if he wanted to get let on a bus or keep his job.  At work he tried to incorporate not reacting to Theo into a game, like hide and seek, so Theo would have to go hide until Klaus happened upon him in a rack of clothes or under the counter.  He was ok really, during the day, running around the shop giggling and singing song he made up on the spot.  And in the evening when Klaus had enough and got too high to see Theo he still pretended to see him and talk to him if Ben relayed what the child was saying.  But It was draining.  Three year olds were exhausting at the best of times but this one did not require sleep and could walk through walls. He often got bored or scared in the middle of the night and tried to wake Klaus.  But Klaus couldn't hear him until the drugs he had taken wore off, and by then Theo may have worked himself up into a state of hysteria.  Klaus would have to get up and try and sooth the distraught child.  Klaus was soon sleep deprived and irritable. 

Money was also an issue for Klaus, he made just enough to afford his apartment, buy food and public transport to get around.  For anything else he depended on a store of money Alison had provided him when she helped him get his life together. It was supposed to be an emergency fund but Klaus had been steadily using it up to buy drugs and alcohol since he got it.  He felt more and more stressed as he watched it dwindle but was unsure what to do about it.  He tried to ration his weed and pills better but this meant having to cope with the ghosts longer.  Most of the ghosts left him alone when requested.  But there was always a handful of jerks, or ghost like Bertie and Theo who couldn't help themselves.  One day, after having a hard day at work came home to find out he had run out of food, like not a single scrap in the whole house.  He stomped off to the grocery shop but his card got declined.  He had to keep putting items back until he was left with just a loaf of bread and some peanut butter. He stomped home and made himself a very disappointing sandwich.  Went through the nights queue of ghosts.  Theo kept interrupting, he didn't understand why Klaus was ignoring him and playing with all the boring grown ups instead.  When Klaus was finally done for the night he went to pack himself a cone and discovered he had no weed. WHich meant he had to go out again.  It was the middle of winter and freezing outside.  Ben nagged him to rugg up more when he saw Klaus planning on leaving the house with far too few layers for the weather. He pointed out how annoyed Diego would be if he wound up in hospital with hypothermia again.  Ben meant well but Klaus was still pretty upset and sensitive about how that whole experience had turned out.  He was frozen and tired by the time he got home.  Theo came running up to him, jabbering away with his toddler nonsense, delighted, and  Klaus snapped at the child.  He told him to shut up and leave him alone, the little boy ran off crying.  He didn't come back.

Klaus was miserable and despondent for a few days, worrying what had happened to the child.  He refused to listen to concolments that Theo was a ghost and could not possibly come to anymore harm.  The worst part of any of the ghost interactions for Klaus was that no one ever seemed to get any kind of closure.  He longed for the day one of the ghosts, after discovering their killer was already in prison, or that their children were safe and happy, or that they actually died 300 years ago, would smile serenely and dissipate into soft golden light.  Or get dragged to hell, or float up into the air, or something that showed they moved on.  But they never did, they always just left him.  It was so unfulfilling.

The Rentch's were his greatest hope for a happy ending.  The festival sounded like a lot of fun as well, the weather was getting colder but the festival was further south, so it would be nice to spend some time outdoors, and Klaus was excited about getting out of his routine for a few days.  Klaus had no problem hitching as he predicted, but once he was there he was a little unprepared.  He had paid to get in but had no tent or sleeping bag so ended up passed out uncomfortably cold in a bush near the campgrounds, but it was a music festival so this didn't matter, people don't judge anyone for not having made good decisions about looking after their bodily needs at a music festival. They just gave him sympathetic smiles as he struggled awake and stumbled off with leaves in his hair.  He found the Rentch's son early in the first evening, before getting wasted and passing out.  Jacob had seemed like a golden god to Klaus, up on the podium, with hundreds of people dancing to the music he created.  Klaus saw the Retch's crying as they saw their son alive and well.  He had been waiting for this moment before taking any mind altering substances.  But seeing the ghost couple burst into happy, relieves tears as they saw their child filled Klaus with a sense of release. This one he had solved, he could relax now.  He took a pill and cut out the ghosts, losing himself to the moment.  

 


	9. Chapter 9

Klaus woke up feeling warm and content.  He was in the tent of a much more savvy festival going couple that he had hooked up with the previous night. As he had been staggering off to pass out somewhere he had seen the couple entering their very well set up sleeping arrangements and remarked on how impressive their camping skills were.  They had invited him in.  Now he was in his favorite position ever of being both the big and little spoon.   He would have been happy to stay in this warm, pleasant sandwich until the others woke up and either made awkward indications he should leave, or maybe continue to be friendly and pleasant, perhaps even offer him breakfast.  But unfortunately he woke up sober enough to have to deal with the ghosts.

"Sorry to...er...interrupt Klaus."  Mr Rentch was in the tent as well, shuffling awkwardly, his wife was hugged into him, looking like she was on the verge of tears. "We just really need your help."  

Klaus groaned and shut his eyes against the ghost. "Why are you even here?"  He had expected the Rentchs to move on, or at least haunt their son from now on instead of him.  

"We need you to talk to Jacob for us."  Mr Rentch told him pleadingly.  "He can't keep living like this... he has so much potential, he could get an education, get a real job...he's just throwing his life away."  

Mrs Rentch broke into sobs at this last part.

"I don't understand."  Klaus rubbed at his face, frustrated.  His little spoon murmured sleepily and shifted.  Klaus regretfully extracted himself, shuffled around as quietly as possible as he assembled his clothing and slipped out of the tent.  

"Ok what the hell?"  Klaus asked them.  "You got what you wanted, I found your son, he's fine, what more do you want?"  Klaus blearily rolled a cigarette as he waited for an explanation.  He folded his boney arms around himself, shivering a little, regretting the loss of his warm bodies.

"He isn't fine." Mr Rentch argued.  "He's living in a van. He spent the night getting high and sleeping with strangers."

Klaus flicked a look back to the tent he had just emerged from, then raised his eyebrows to the frantic ghost.  "So what?"

"We tried to raise him to be a good christian boy."  Mrs Rentch sobbed.

"He seems fine to me."  Klaus lit his cigarette, frowning at her, genuinely puzzled, it sounded like Jacob was doing great as far as Klaus could see.  

"Please Klaus we need you to talk to him, he could be doing so much better, if he keeps going on like this he could end up...." 

"Like me?"  Klaus asked bitterly.  

"We just want what's best for him."  The ghost pleaded.

"You told me you just wanted to make sure he was OK, you said you regretted judging him."  Klaus accused.  

The ghost couple shuffled guiltily.  "We needed you to help us."

Klaus felt like a bucket of water had been dumped over him.

"You manipulated me."  He said furiously.  

"We did what we had to for our child."  Mr Rentch argued.

"Please Klaus if you could just explain to him..."

"No!" Klaus snapped. "You haven't thought this through, you stupid ghosts never think it through.  Like I can just go up to him and tell him, hey your dead parents talk to me and they say they do not approve of your lifestyle...Yeah that will go down just great."

Behind him the tent flap opened and the big spoon peered out.  "Everything alright?"  He asked cautiously.

Klaus stopped glaring at the empty air and plastered on a smile.  "Oh yeah...just...um...bad dream..."  

They returned his smile cautiously but didn't invite him back in.  Klaus stomped off to find something to shut the Rentchs up.  He spent the last day of the festival so high he was barely able to communicate with the living let alone the dead. 

When it was over and everything was packed up Klaus was able to get a lift from some other festival goers for a big chunk of his trip home, they were a kind group of college friends who Klaus had met and danced with over the last few days. They gave him weed and food and sang along to music, it lifted his spirits to be having fun with some happy, carefree, young people.   Klaus was a naturally cheerful, person, he had never found much drive for wealth or ambition or fame, but the raw, physical pleasures in life always bought him joy.  Getting high, getting laid, food, dancing, and just talking to other people. But eventually his new friends were branching off from where Klaus needed to go. They were worried and reluctant to leave him on the road side but he insisted he would be fine, that he hitched all the time and it was no big deal.  And Klaus believed this, he did hitch all the time and it had always been fine.  Klaus  wandered along the side of the highway sticking his thumb out to passing cars, he shivered in the cool air, his arms were bare and goosebumps showed on his skin. 

"What happened to your jacket?"  Ben asked him.

Klaus ignored Ben, who took this with stoic silence. 

Klaus pointedly ignored all the ghosts following him. As he had begun sobering up he noticed to his relief that the Rentchs were not with him. He knew it wasn't the other ghosts fault but he felt hurt and betrayed and angry in general with all of them.  

Eventually a car pulled up for Klaus.  He gave them a dazzling smile as he opened the car door to get in.  But as he did he noticed a young woman's ghost in the back, her face bloated and blotchy, like she had suffocated.  KIaus yelped and jumped back out of the car. The driver also got out. 

"Hey what's wrong?" He asked advancing on Klaus, his expression was all friendly concern but he was intimidatingly large, thick and muscular, not taller than Klaus but stolid. Klaus was all spindly, long limbs with no substance too them, he would not win an outright fight with this guy. "Are you OK?" The stranger asked, seemingly confused by Klaus's behavior.

"Stay away from me!"  Klaus hissed at him, backing away into the ditch, he looked around frantically but there were no other cars in sight.

"Remember your training."  Ben coached him worriedly, Klaus had never been very good at hand to hand combat, Luther, Ben and Diego were all such heavy hitters compared to him, he hadn't seen the point.   

As Klaus continued to back away he stumbled on a branch.  The man rushed forward but Klaus rolled, grabbed the branch and popped back up swinging the branch at the man.

"Fuck off!"  Klaus shrieked at him, swinging wildly. The man staying just out of range but didn't give up.  To Klaus's relief another car pulled up.  To his further relief he saw it was a police car.  

"What's going on here?"  The policeman asked as he got out of the car.  

"I don't know?"  The man said, sounding genuinely confused with a hint of amusement. "I was just checking if he was OK and he started flipping out for no reason, I think he might be on something."

The cop frowned at Klaus.  He had stopped swinging the stick but was still clutching it,white knuckled and staring at them both with massive, fear blown eyes.  He certainly looked a bit unhinged, wearing nothing but a rainbow crop, tight black jeans, and converse despite it being November. His eyes were bloodshot and ringed with dark purple bags, and he was shaking badly. 

"Are you on drugs son?"  The cop asked him.

Klaus shook his head frantically, he dropped the stick and gestured back to the man's car.

"He killed a girl."  Klaus said shrilly, aware as he said it he was digging his own grave but too filled with adrenaline to think clearly.  "He was going to kill me."

The man shared an amused look with the cop.  "I was just checking he was OK."  The man repeated with a shrug.  "He seemed like he needed help."

"What makes you think he was trying to kill you?"  The cop asked in a reasonable tone.  

"He killed a girl."  Klaus insisted.

"Uh huh..."  The cop made a go on kind of gesture.  

Klaus realized the futility of what he was doing and just sighed, he hugged him arms around himself and decided to just wait and see what was going to happen.  He was arrested for public inebriation.

"At least you're  safe now."  Ben tried to cheer him up as he sat handcuffed in the back of the patrol car, on the way to the station. 

"Gotta look on that bright side I guess."  Klaus agreed blandly.  He was taken to the station and processed, he was charged for hitchhiking and vagrancy for good measure when they discovered he had no money, id and had been trying to hitchhike home.  The officer stood impatiently by him as he made his phone call and snickered in amusement when Klaus called his work and told them he had food poisoning and would need another day or two off.

 Klaus was then locked in the drunk tank overnight to sober up. The ghost from the car was waiting for him.

"Please, you have to tell the police about him."  She said.

Klaus ignored her, he curled up on the bench in the drunk tank.  It was much warmer in the cell than it had been out on the road but it was still a bit colder than was comfortable for how he was dressed.  He'd had a coat at some point.  He wondered idly what had happened to it, he liked that coat.

"He didn't mean to kill me."  The ghost told Klaus sadly.  "He gave me drink laced with something..."  The ghost frowned, remembering.  "I had a bad reaction to it...he couldn't take me to a hospital so he just kicked me back out into the side of the road."

Klaus shut his eyes and clamped him hands over his ears. He had scraped the palms of his hands when he fell over, they stung as he crushed them against his ears, trying to drown out the ghost.

"No one looked into it..."  The ghosts sad voice reached him anyway.  "...I was just a stupid junkie who ODed on the side of the road while hitchhiking."

"Please..."  Klaus said brokenly.

"I'm sorry that happened to you."  Ben stepped in.  "But we can't do anything about it."

"He could speak to the police."  The dead girl argued.  "That guy is still out there."

"The police won't believe him."  Ben told her, firmly but not unkindly. 

"Why not, he's famous right?"  The girl insisted.  "I remember seeing him on TV when I was alive."  

"Yeah, look at them scrambling for my autograph."  Klaus said bitterly, he sat up and scrubbed his wrist across his eye, tears were gathering in his long eyelashes.  

"I saved you from that guy."  The ghost was getting angry now. "You owe me."

"I don't owe anyone anything."  Klaus snapped at her.  "I was only in danger in the first place because I was helping another stupid ghost."  

"Hey pipe down in there nutjob."  The officer yelled at him from the office.  

Klasu glared at the ghost pointedly.

She burst into tears, filling the cell with a heart breaking wail.  Klaus curled back up into a ball, wrapping his arms around his head and crushing his head into his knees.  He could still hear her though.  At first he could hear the other ghosts try to comfort her, but she ignored them and continued cry and to scream in anger, eventually they gave up.  

After a few hours of stubbornly ignoring the ghost she stopped. Klaus slowly uncurled himself to peer at her.  She was sitting on the floor of the cell staring blankly ahead, her mottled face blank with misery. 

"You were the first person I have been able to talk to in three years..."  She told him softly.  "...And you don't even care."   

Klaus sighed.  "What was your name?"  He asked the ghost.

"Lily Manning."  She told him.

"I'm sorry Lily Manning."  Klaus told her, he met her eyes.  "I really am.  But I'm telling you the truth, I can't help you. There is no way I'll be able to convince them I'm serious"

"You could prove you can really talk to me."  Lily argued.

"How?"  Klaus held up his hands.

"Tell them details you shouldn't be able to know."

"They might think it was me who killed you if I do that."  Klaus argued.

"I died three years ago, you would have just been a kid then."

Klaus was still not convinced.  "Well they won't just have your file in every police station, only the one that is dealing with your case."

"I was a local, I was found not too far out of town."  She said, her blotchy face pleading.   

"OK...Ok, I'll try."  He huffed a sigh.  

"Officer."  Klaus called to the policeman in a singsong voice.  When the man eventually came over, his expression bored.

"What?"

"I need to report a crime."  Klaus explained.   

"Uh huh."  The officer was unamused.

"That man who was attacking me earlier..."

"Seemed more like you were attacking him."  The officer argued.

"...he killed a girl...please I'm serious.. girl named Lily Manning about three years ago...wait listen!..He spiked her drink but she had a bad reaction to it and choked to death."

The policeman was shaking his head, his arms folded.

" I'm serious!"  Klaus held up his forearm to show the tattoo.  "I was in the umbrella academy, I can talk to ghost's...Lily told me what happened, please just look up her file, I will be able to tell you things I shouldn't be able to know, you'll see."  Klaus flashed his best puppy eyes imploringly.

There was a beat of silence as the officer just stared at Klaus sternly.

"I'm not high."  Klaus groaned, exasperated.  "I know how this sounds but I'm serious, do you really not remember the umbrella academy?  Only a few years ago we were in the new, like, all the time."

"I remember."  The cop smirked.  "But any idiot can get a tattoo."

Klaus silently and for the first time cursed his father for making them wear masks.  

"Please just check her file, what do you have to lose?"

The cop shook his head and walked off.  Klaus looked imploringly to the ghost, he had tried.  Lily just looked deflated.

"Thanks for trying I guess."  Lily told him sadly.  

A few hours later Klaus was released with a bunch of fines he never intended to pay.  He remarked about the irony that he had been given monetary fines as punishment for, essentially, having no money to Ben as he walked back to the highway.

"Please tell me you are not planning on hitchhiking the rest of the way home?"  Ben asked him.

"How else am I supposed to get home?"  Klaus asked as he shuffled along, huddled into himself against the wind.

"You should call Luther to come pick you up."  Ben insisted.  "Tell him what happened.  He'll be worried, he won't want you to hitchhike."

Klaus refused to listen to reason on this, but he did make it home with no further incident.  


	10. Chapter 10

Klaus was already having financial issues before he lost his job.  Without an income Klaus was evicted from his apartment within four weeks.  He tried to find another job but he had such a crappy employment history that without Allison's backing he didn't have any luck.  He tried to call Allison to ask to borrow money.  But it was so difficult to get in contact with her.  She travelled a lot and had an active social life.  He would call whatever recent number he had for her, or try her agent, but he never got through and had to just leave a message.  Klaus didn't have a phone so it was not possible for Allison to call him back.  He couldn't ask Vanya or Diego for money, they were both too poor.  Luther would probably give him money if he knew it was for rent.  He would not want his brother to end up homeless, but he would never believe the money was for rent.  And anyway asking him meant going back to the academy.  Klaus dealt with his financial problems and imminent eviction the way he dealt with most things that upset him, he got high and ignored it.  

"Kelly is suggesting you should apply for unemployment."  Ben told him after Klaus opened his second angry letter from his estate agent wanting to know why he hadn't paid rent.  

Klaus quirk an eyebrow at him.  "What does that mean?"  He had been too consistently high to notice any other ghost than Ben, but apparently they were still around, waiting for him to sober up so they could go back to nagging him to do stuff for them.  

"It's where the government gives you money to cover your living expenses if you don't have a job."  Ben relayed.

Klaus brightened at this.  "I love the government!" He beamed.  "Let's go apply for unemployment!"  

So Klaus put on his nicest outfit and followed Kelly's directions, relayed by Ben, to the nearest welfare centre. Klaus's nicest outfit probably did not conform with the welfare office's definition of nice, it was a dark green silk blouse he had stolen from Allison and a pair of sparkly black leggings he thinks he may have borrowed from a girl he knew in college, a black coat that having been Diego's was too short in the arms but also, somehow, too big for him. He remained buoyant with optimism all through the tedious task of filling out reams of paperwork and waiting in line, then waiting around again for his forms to be processed and his number called.  It took so long that he sobered up in the welfare office and his current gang of needy ghost appeared and began to demand things.  

"I've been waiting three days for a chance to talk to you."  A woman with a gunshot in her forehead snapped.  "I was murdered, now I bet he's managed to get rid of the evidence."

"You think you have problems?"  Phil sniffed at her.  "I've been waiting months for him to help me with my murder."

"You all need to just shut up and let Klaus sort out his life first."  Kelly yelled at all of them furiously.  

"But I was..."

"Murdered?  Yeah join the club...in fact...hands up who here was murdered."  There was 23 ghosts milling around Klaus, all but three raised their hands.

"So you seriously think this kid, with no money, no police training, no support and a substance abuse problem is going to solve 20 murders?"  She snapped at them all.  The ghosts shuffled and murmured.

"I don't have a substance abuse problem."  Klaus argued, he has been smiling fondly at Kelly when she stood up for him, but his face fell at hearing this, he didn't have a problem, it was all the other things in life that made getting high all the time inconvenient that were the problem.   

"But I appreciate the support!"  He gave her a charming smile, pressing his palms together like in prayer.  

Kelly fixed him with a stern look. "Klaus, it's OK that you're not coping, it's OK if you need more support but you have to talk to people, talk to your family."

"I do talk to my family."  Klaus sighed.

"Your living family." She added, looking to Ben who nodded firmly.

When his number was called Klaus skipped up to the service desk.  He was feeling so relieved and positive that it really crushed him when the dead eyed woman behind the counter told him he was not eligible for unemployment because his family was too wealthy.  

"But I don't have access to that wealth."  Klaus pleaded with her.

"You are the financial responsibility of your legal guardian until you are twenty one."  The woman told him in bored monotone. 

"What am I supposed to do for the next year?"  Klaus asked, boring into her with his big green doe eyes.

"You'll have to make an arrangement with your legal guardian."  The woman told him, unmoved.

"But my father is a monster!"  Klaus argued.  "He won't give me money unless I go on terrifying and dangerous crime fighting missions."  

"You can apply for legal emancipation from your family if they are abusive."  The woman told him, as if she were telling him about an alternative bus route.  

"How do I do that?"  Klaus asked her.

"Not my department, you'll need to apply for legal aid."  The woman said dismissively and called the next number.  

"What are you going to do now?"  Ben asked Klaus as he walked home.

Klaus shrugged.  

"You should speak to Luther you know."  Ben sighed.

"Remember the last time I spoke to Luther?"  Klaus asked bitterly.  

"He does care about you though Klaus."  Ben insisted.  "Remember all those times he looked out for you in missions? He wouldn't have done that if he didn't care.  If he knew you really needed help he would help."

"He doesn't care about me outside of missions."  Klaus said bitterly.  "The last time we spoke I had just got out of hospital that time I ODed at that C-list celebrity bullshit party I went to with Allison, remember that?"

"Yes I remember."  Ben rolled his eyes.  "Of course I remember you nearly died."

"He was so mad and worried, but not because I almost died, because I made bad press for Allison.  He only really cares about her."  

Ben shook his head and sighed.  He doubted this was entirely true.  Sure Allison would always be Luther's main concern, but Ben refused to believe Luther didn't care about Klaus at all.  He probably had been very worried about Klaus, they all were.  But a drug overdose was an enemy Luther didn't really know how to fight.

After he was evicted Klaus went back to always trying to find a hookup for the night.  It was easy enough.  Klaus was attractive, and fun.  The only problem was, no one can be attractive and fun all the time. Sometimes Klaus was in a bad mood, or felt sad and despondent, or he had a headache or felt tired.  But he had push it all down and be happy and bubbly so people would like him and give him drugs and a place to sleep.  And though, for the most part Klaus enjoyed partying and dancing and sex, forcing yourself to do these sort of things when you don't feel like it is a strain.  A few weeks of this fast paced lifestyle burned through all the healthy, well rested vigour he had build up over the months of eating and sleeping regularly and had him back to the strung out skinny mess he had been just before he collapsed in the phonebooth.   

He had a brief window of rest when a guy he hooked up with a few times was called away for a business trip at short notice over a long weekend.  He had no other option but to ask Klaus, who he barely knew to house sit for three days to look after his dog.  The following three days were hands down some of the best days of Klaus's life.  He had never imagined his life would be stable in a way that allowed him to have something as needy and deserving of stability as a dog.  It was an unlikely dream, the way most people might view owning a yacht, or a beach house in the south of France.  The dog was a golden retriever named Ruben and he was wonderfully calm and affectionate.  Klaus adored him and took him on walks twice a day, and fed him and watched TV with him and slept with him in the bed.  He didn't even go out, he just stayed home and smoked joints and had long hot baths and hung out with Ruben.  When Ruben's owner returned he was delighted to find his house was not trashed and his dog was in good health.  He  had been pretty anxious and in his relief he gave Klaus $100 to thank him.   Klaus skipped along the pavement as he left, joyful.  

"Do you think animal ketamine in the same as...you know...person ketamine?"  Klaus asked Ben as they set off to the nearest dealer Klaus knew to spent his $100. 

"Why?"  Ben asked

Klaus took an orange tube of pills out of his coat pocket and rattled them.

"He must have them for stressful times like fireworks or thunderstorms."  Klaus said contemplatively as he frowned at the label.

"You stole drugs from a _dog_?"  Ben asked aghast.  

Klaus bit his lip.

"Ruben was cool with it."  He argued.  "Besides his owner will buy him more, it's fine."

"One day your going to steal from the wrong guy and it will catch up with you."  Ben predicted.

Ben reminded Klaus of this a few nights later when he noticed Klaus sneaking out of bed in the middle of the night to riffle through his hookups medicine cabinet.  

"If you're so worried you could keep watch."  Klaus argued, stuffing a tube of something into his coat pocket.  He was reading the back of a box and ignored Ben saying his name sharply, thinking he was just getting a further lecture.  Instead he turned to find his hookup looming over him. 

"What the fuck are you doing?"  He was about Klaus's size but maybe 10 years older and ripped in a way that Klaus had found very attractive earlier in the night, but now found a little menacing.

"I was just looking for aspirin."  Klaus lied easily but it didn't land, he was also not coming across as attractive as he had been earlier, his skinny, hollow cheeked look seemed artistic and delicately beautiful when he was all dolled up and dancing to the beat, now he looked sickly and strung out.   

"Oh?  What's in your pockets then?"  The man asked, reaching out to check.  Klaus tried to twist away but the man grabbed him by his slender wrist and stopped him, still trying to reach for his pockets.  Klaus clawed at the hand clamped to his wrist with his fingernails, they were holding him too hard, it was painful. 

"Let me go you asshole!"  Klaus hissed at him, scratching deep enough to draw blood.  

Enraged the man punched Klaus in the face.  He fell back against the sink, knocking toothbrushes and shaving utensils to the clatter harshly on the tiles.  Klaus scuttled away from the other man, he had never been hurt by another person before, outside of a mission that is, but that was different. Ben screamed at the man in fury, his tentacles shot out and helplessly phased through Klaus's attacker.  Luckily the man seemed immediately contrite.  Seeing Klaus on the floor with big, fear blown eyes like a wounded deer.  

"I'm sorry."  The man said.  

"I want to leave."  Klaus told him, in a small voice, moving away still crouched on the floor and only getting up once he was out of punching range. 

"Yeah, OK."  The man didn't stop Klaus as he gathered his things and slipped out into the night.

"Tell me the truth Ben..."  Klaus said as they walked off down the dark street.  "...Am I still beautiful?  Did he break my face?"  Klaus tilted his head all different angles to let Ben get a look.  

"You're going to have a black eye."  Ben sighed at him.  

"I know you really want to say I told you so."  Klaus gave Ben a small grin, hoping to deflect Ben's worry into smug self righteousness instead.  It was so much easier to deal with. 

It didn't work. Ben just glared at him.

"Thanks for trying to rescue me back there by the way, you didn't have to go all eldritch monster for little old me."  Klaus batted his lashes at the ghost. 

"Klaus you can't keep going like this."  Ben sighed.  "You need to try and get a job again, get a place to live."  It was the end of winter but would still be way too cold to sleep outside for several months, and it was now too late for Klaus to find somewhere to spend the night.

"You're right."  Klaus agreed, pausing on the sidewalk and looking contemplative, drumming his fingers on his lips.  "I need a place as a backup for situations like this. Maybe like one of those houses that are all abandoned and boarded up because people think they're haunted." 

"That's not what I had in mind."  Ben was glad that Klaus was such a positive person, always seeing the humor in a situation, and bouncing back from disappoint as soon as any small enjoyment came up.  But Ben also wondered if this way of thinking prevented him from ever really learning his lesson from the bad times.  For example, he seemed to think that the fact he had been allowed to keep the drugs he stole made up for the fact he got punched in the face.   He seemed to think getting to spend 3 days hanging out in a nice house with a nice dog made up for how sad he had been to lose his apartment.  

After a bit of walking around the city Klaus found the perfect candidate for his new base of operations. It was an old townhouse, protected by historic value laws that also made it prohibitively expensive to renovate.  The owners did not want to live in such an uncomfortably cold house, so the house was  rented out a few times.  But the tenants had bad luck, the first couple had both died suddenly of the cancer, they had smoked heavily and their deaths had been four years apart but it had seemed an awful coincidence.  The next family to rent the house the been convinced it was haunted, because of strange sounds that they thought sounded like someone coughing.  The owners struggled to find other renters after the story got out and it went on the market but didn't sell and slowly fell into disrepair. 

Klaus thought it was perfect.  The helpful ghost of one of the previous tenants who had died, told Klaus they had once dropped a key down the crack between the steps and the house, if he crawled under the house he may be able to find it.  Klaus emerged from under the house covered in cobwebs but triumphantly brandishing the key.  So he didn't even have to break in.  Of course by living in the house Klaus perpetuated the idea it was haunted.  People heard laughter and talking in what should be an empty house.  They thought it was creepy and stayed away.  In reality the house was no more haunted than any other house Klaus had been in.  

The house was pitch black, it had two broken windows that were boarded up and the rest had the blinds closed.  There was no electricity and no moonlight so it would be impossible to explore the house until the morning.  It wasn't much warmer inside than it had been outside, but he was out of the weather at least, and safe.  Klaus used his lighter as a flashlight and trailed a hand along the wall as he moved through the hall to look around the living room. To his surprise and pleasure it was full of old furniture.  The owner of the house was using the empty house to store furniture and other stuff he didn't want anymore. 

"This is so great."  Klaus said floppy down on a ratty old couch with a sheet over it.  He sneezed several times and yelped in pain.

"You OK?"  Ben asked asked the dark room, Klaus had let the lighter go out.

"Yeah it just hurt my head."  Klaus admitted, he sneezed again.  "Ow."  He winced and touched his bruised face gingerly.

"It probably dusty in here."  Ben predicted.

"Yeah."  Klaus agreed and sneezed again.  He didn't cry out this time even though it had still sent a bolt of pain through his head.  But he could guess from the prickling itch spreading through the inside of his face that he was going to keep sneezing and he didn't want Ben getting all worried about him being in pain.

"Do you think you have a concussion."  Ben worried anyway.

"No, I'm alright."  He told Ben.  He shook out enough pills from his stash to get himself to sleep despite the dust and the cold and the pain in his head.

 

In the morning it was still too dark to see much with the house so closed up.  Klaus woke up feeling terrible. His head hurt and he was congested and itchy from the dust.  Ben flitted around scoping the place out.

"If you open the blinds on that window no one can see from the street."  He told Klaus pointing out a large window that luckily was not broken.

"Well look at you being all poractive and helpful."  Klaus approved.  Opening the blind let in enough light to see the poorly stacked furniture and boxes of unwanted clothes and books.  It also released a cloud of dust in the air that set Klaus off sneezing until he was out of breath and lightheaded. 

"You're going to need to do something about the dust."  Ben remark, a little worried that Klaus was starting to sound wheezy.       

Klaus nodded, he took of his scarf and tied it around the lower half of his face, covering his mouth and nose.  He opened some of the cardboard boxes in the room until he found an old flannel shirt he could use as a dust rag.  The rest of the house was still pretty dark but Ben advised him of various windows he thought would be safe to open for light.  Eventually Klaus found the bathroom but the water was shut off.  Klaus clicked his tongue in frustration, he caught sight of himself in the grimy mirror.  Only his eyes were visible between the fabric of the scarf and the curly mess of his hair.  His left eye was framed in a spectacular purple and red bruise, his right eye was puffy and red.  He frowned behind his scarf, wondering his chances of picking up looking like this.  

"Nice shiner."  The helpful ghost that had told Klaus about the key appeared behind him.

"Yeah well, you should see the other guy."  Klaus told the ghost, his voice muffled with congestion and the scarf.

"Oh?"  The ghost raised their eyebrows, giving Klaus's thin form a privately thoughtful once over.

"Oh yeah, he will have some claw marks he's going to find very uncomfortable to explain." Klaus told him smugly, he sneezed several times then moved his scarf around so the damp patch wasn't pressed against his face.

"The water is turned off at the mains, I can show you how to turn it back on if you like."  The ghost said with a sympathetic expression.  

With the water turned on Klaus was able to wet the flannel and begin the tedious process of removing dust from every surface he was likely to interact with.  He had to keep going back to the sink and rinsing out the cloth in the cold water.  His hands were red with cold and irritation from touching so much dust.  

"Look at that."  Klaus said in disgust as the water coming off the cloth was black.  "No wonder my poor respiratory system is so unhappy with me."  

"Klaus you know this place is only temporary right."  Ben told him, worried.  He was glad Klaus had found somewhere that was better than the street, but it still had no heating, and he would eventually be caught. 

Klaus waved off his concern. "Sure Ben." He agreed.   

Once he was done cleaning Klaus looked through his pockets to check on his supply of drugs and cigarettes.  He had almost a full pouch of tobacco but only had some codeine he stole the previous night to dull the ghosts.  Codeine would make him sick if he took it on an empty stomach and would give him more of a buzz if he mixed it with alcohol, so he would have to go out.  He still had twenty dollars left that he though should cover it if he was careful.  He relayed his plan to Ben who looked around the room frowning.

"The only ghosts here are me and that friendly, helpful guy who showed you how to turn on the water.  Why do you need to get high?" 

This surprised Klaus, he hadn't noticed until Ben pointed it out that his usual entourage were gone.

"Where did the gang go?  Where are Phil and Kelly?"  He asked.

"They left a few days ago."  Ben told him.  "Kelly couldn't handle watching you destroy yourself any longer, and Phil said he needed to check something out.  So maybe you could just buy food?"  Ben pressed, hopeful.

Klaus shuffled awkwardly.  "More ghosts will come though."  He argued.  "They always do."

This was true, but the other uncomfortable truth he was trying not to admit to himself, was that getting high wasn't just about the ghosts anymore.

 


	11. Chapter 11

Most of the time Ben didn't mind that he had no choice but to haunt his vagabond brother.  And for the most part he really didn't judge him for how much of a mess he was.  He understood, he really did.  But there were times when Klaus seemed to be almost trying to self destruct and he found it unbearably frustrating that he couldn't get through to his brother, or enlist anyone else to help. 

After getting punched in the face Klaus spent the next week or so in a constant drug haze, maybe because he was a little shaken by what had happened, or maybe just because the opportunities presented themselves, but either way Klaus wasn't particularly present for days on end.  It felt like he was floating just above himself and every now and again had to drop back in to check on his body.  

For Ben it felt like he was trying to herd a cat.  A drunk, uncoordinated cat with a poor sense of self preservation. Klaus did let Ben do all the route planning when he went anywhere, because Ben seemed to enjoy things like that.  Whenever they went somewhere new he would immediately be scrutinizing the route maps and saying things like "If you take the 151 then change at stop 19 for the 345 it will be the least changes but if you change at stop 13 then get the 252 to the train station and take the south junction line then the 362 bus... that will be fastest, what do you think?" 

Klaus would just stare at him blankly and follow Ben through whatever route he decided on.  This had created a bit of codependency and on the occasions that Ben got annoyed with him and disappeared for a few days Klaus would wander around baffled that Ben could make head or tails of these random coloured lines and frequently get lost.

This happened in the beginning of the drug binge. Klaus was at a point of intoxication and sleep deprivation that he was barely able to remember what was happening or where he was.  He had to get by with fleeting moments that strung together just enough of a narrative that he could follow what was happening to him.  It felt like he was in a dream, one moment flowing into the next.  He started off at a friends birthday and there is alcohol everywhere and people are laughing and happy, then he is at a girls house and they were making out, and she  was warm and soft, she offered him some speed, telling him it will help clear his sinus,and it did, plus it gave him a nice boost of energy, then they were out somewhere but he thinks it's maybe a day later because the sun is out but before he can question anything she suggests they go see her friends band play.  Then he is dancing with a whole group of people, they are outside and it would be cold but the close press of so many bodies creates a microclimate, someone passes him a joint.  Then he's at someone else's house with a small group of people drinking white wine and eating pizza, he doesn't recognise the guy who invites him in but he recognises a girl he knows among the group, so it should be fine, maybe she lives here?  he can't remember. Ben is trying to tell him something, he looks annoyed, like he has been trying to tell him the same thing for awhile.  Then Klaus wakes up laying on a bed, the girl he recognised earlier is patting his face gently and saying his name.  He feels a flash of guilt he can't remember her name.

"Are you OK?"  She asks when she sees his eyes open a crack.

"I'm fine." He tells her, flapping an arm, wondering vaguely why he's lying down, were they making out?

"You fainted."  The girl said, she sounded worried, Ben also seemed worried all furrowed eyebrows and biting his lip.  But Klaus brushed off their concern and went on with the binge, he felt like he was in a train that was moving very fast, he was scared it would hurt if jumped off. Ben kept wanting him to do things that might make him sober up, like go to sleep, but he wasn't ready to jump off yet. Ben got frustrated with him and yelled something about being disappointed and he was going to end up in hospital or dead...etc..nothing he hadn't heard before.  The next time he looked to Ben he found his brother was nowhere to be seen.  He wasn't sure when he had left or how long he'd been gone but regretted his loss the next time he had to make his way to a particular location and ended up just wandering the streets looking for a familiar landmark.

Eventually Ben took pity on his brother, wandering around like a lost puppy, he looked so vulnerable with his black eye.

"You've been walking around in big, pointless circles for three hours."  Ben criticised when he returned, appearing suddenly beside Klaus in the street.

"Ben!"  Klaus grinned at him delighted and tried to hug him, phasing right through him instead.  "I'm looking for my dealer's house.  You know?...The one who always lets me hang out and play nintendo with him?"  Klaus's voice sounded raspy and nasal.  Ben did not particularly want him to go to a dealer's house but being inside in general was probably a good idea, it was windy and the sky was grey and heavy.  

"This way."  Ben sighed and led his brother along the street.

"Ben you are the best navigator ever, never need map if you have a ghost brother."  Klaus told him fondly, seemingly unfazed by the odd looks he was getting from other pedestrians for talking animatedly to the empty air. "Have you just been watching me walk around lost this whole time?  You _fiend_." He admonished then quickly turned away from Ben and sneezed several times into his cupped hands.

"It's polite of you turn away from me and everything but I'm dead and unaffected by germs and it kind of gives the impression to everyone else, that you're turning towards them just to be a jerk." Ben reminded him.

When Klaus didn't answer Ben turned back to see his brother had stopped walking and was just standing there hovering a hand in front of his face with a hazy expression, waiting for his body to either hurry up already with the next round of sneezing or drop it and let him get on with his life. When the fit finally happened he got confused about which way to turn and nearly ran into a wall.  He gave a phlegmy, chest rattling growl of annoyance that triggered a horrible, wet gravely cough.

 "You sound like shit Klaus."  Ben cringed. 

 "I think it's just allergies."  Klaus argued. He had noticed, amongst his drug hazy memories that he had been sneezing and coughing a lot.  But he thought it must just be from living in the abandoned house.  He had cleaned as well as he could but without a vacuum cleaner it was impossible to get the dust out of the carpet and the fabric of the couch he slept on.  He would sneeze incessantly for a few hours after waking up on that dusty couch. 

"You haven't been back to the house in almost two days."  Ben pointed out.  "And you look kind of flushed, like you have a fever." 

Klaus shrugged non committedly.  He had to admit, his throat was really sore and he didn't think allergies did that.

 They walked to his dealer's house and Klaus bought some weed and oxy.  Almost as soon as Klaus stepped inside he sneezed, coughed like he might hack up and organ, then ran his entire arm under his nose. The dealer all but shoved him away with a broom.  They decidedly did not invite him to hang out and play nintendo.  

Back on the street the rain had started.  Klaus didn't have an umbrella because of course he didn't. 

"Guess it's back to _casa de polvo_?" Klaus asked as they walked to the bus stop.

Ben thought about it as they waited for the bus.  Klaus would just follow him wherever he directed without question, there was no way he would pay attention to the bus route.  Ben wanted to lead him back to the academy.  Their mother would be able to give Klaus medical attention.  And maybe Luther would see how much Klaus was struggling and reach out to him. But it was too big a risk.  There was still a few minutes walk from the bus stop to the academy that was very familiar to Klaus.  He would notice what Ben was doing and not trust him with directions again for a while.  With the state he was in Klaus might just wander around utterly lost until he passed out.  His next best option was Diego or Vanya.  The problem with taking Klaus to Vanya's house was that Ben didn't think Klaus would particularly want to visit Vanya.  It wasn't that he didn't like her.  It's more that he felt like awkward around her.  They hadn't been as close as children, he didn't know her the way he knew Ben and Diego or even Luther and Allison.  If he took Klaus to Diego's house when they got to the building and Klaus realised he had not been led back to the abandoned house as expected Ben could say "Oh but you said you wanted to come visit Diego." And there was a good chance Klaus would believe him, because spontaneously deciding to visit Diego was something Klaus did all the time.  Spontaneously deciding to visit Vanya was not at all common, and would be viewed with more skepticism.  So Ben led Klaus through the public transport route to Diego's house.  

As predicted Klaus did not question where they were until they arrived at Diego's door.  

"Where are we."  Klaus asked looking around blearily.

"Diego's, you wanted to check up on him remember?"  Ben lied.

"Diego's?"  Klaus sniffled and coughed.  "Oh thank christ maybe he has some terrible off brand cough medicine I can borrow." He said and  happily buzzed Diego's apartment.

To Ben's immense disappointment there was no answer.  

"Where could he be at this hour?"  Klaus asked, coughing again. "He should be home studying."  

Ben floated into Diego's apartment and checked each room, he wasn't there. Ben went back out to report this to Klaus but found him curled up against the wall of the building, huddled under the awning to get out of the rain.  He was shivering staring out at the night with unfocused, glassy eyes.  

"Why don't we go visit Vanya instead then?"  Ben tried.

"I don't want to go back out in the rain."  Klaus mumbled, he was falling asleep.  Ben started to panic. Klaus looked terribly pale, except for the vivid purple and yellow bruise around his eye.  His lips had a faint tinge of blue, Ben wasn't sure if it was from being too cold or not getting enough oxygen, either way it was alarming.  

"Come on Klaus, get up you have to keep looking for help."  Ben begged.  But Klaus shook his head drowsily.  

"He'll be back soon."  He slurred. 

 

Ben tried to encourage his brother to get up, to find somewhere warmer before he fell asleep, but Klaus's body had run out of steam.  

 

 

Klaus woke up in the hospital with Diego and Ben on either side of him giving him matching _I told you so_ looks. 

"Did I OD this time?"  Klaus asked timidly.  

Diego's eyes blazed with anger.  "No it's the same shit as last time."  He fumed.  "Dehydrated, malnourished, exhausted, oh except this time you have a nasty respiratory infection too, just for fun."  

Klaus groaned, which set off a jagged round of coughing.  

"I _told_ you Klaus."  Diego continued to berate him.  "I told you that if you kept it up with the drugs you'd just end up back here."  

"I can't just not take anything ever."  Klaus pleaded, between coughs.  "The ghosts are always there, I can't handle it all the time."

"You know what I can't handle?"  Diego asked him.  "Finding my brother passed out on the front steps of my apartment building, half dead because he's been too high to take care of himself."  

Klaus cringed and curled in on himself, ashamed, he remembered fuzzily that he had meant check up on Diego, that clearly had not gone well.  

"I'm sorry."  He mumbled.  "I didn't mean it."

"You never do."  Diego sighed, his face softened.  "Look, I didn't mean I don't want you to come to me for help.  I do, I'm glad you were at my house instead of in some random alleyway or something."

"Where were you anyway?"  Klaus asked, trying to move the conversation on from his health.  "You were out pretty late for a school night, seeing a special someone?"  He batted his lashes, he was trying to look playful but his face was so drawn and pale  he barely managed it.

Diego scowled at him. "None of your business."  He snapped, a guarded, shifty look flashed across his face, making Klaus scrutinise his brother more carefully. Diego looked tired, like he hadn't slept well in a while, and he had a faint bruise on his jaw, and a split lip, maybe he had been fighting.

"What happened to your lip?" Klaus questioned.

"What happened to your eye?"  Diego countered.

Klaus sighed/wheezed, he had forgotten about the eye.  "It was a simple disagreement, no big deal."  he hedged, ignoring Ben's stern glare.

"Who did that to you?"  Diego asked angrily, like he might plan on stabbing whoever it was. 

Klaus shrugged.  "I don't actually remember their name."  He admitted.  

Diego rolled his eyes.  "You have to stop all this Klaus."  He went back to his lecture.  "Come and stay with me, I'll help you get clean, I'll help you sign up for one of those twelve steps programs."  

Diego sounded ernest, but Klaus felt tired and sick, he didn't want to think about it, he just wanted Diego to stop yelling at him so he could go to sleep.

"Sure Diego."  He agreed drowsily.  "whatever you think."  Klaus barely listened as Diego outlined his plan to fix him, just let his brothers words drone into background noise as he drifted back to sleep.

 

WHen he woke back up both his brothers were gone.  But Phil Leaderman was sitting beside him, a calm, thoughtful expression on his face.

"Phil?"  Klaus asked, he felt horrible, his skin felt so sensitive it seemed to burn and was painful where the fabric of the hospital sheets touched him.  

 Phil turned to him and said mildly.  "Ben left with your older brother."

Klaus wheezed out a long slow sigh.  If he was seeing Phil it meant he was sobering up.

"We're the same age."  He said tiredly.

"You're what?  triplets?  How come your brothers are asian and...mexican or whatever?"

"Did you want something Phil?" Klaus asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yes."  Phil told him, but didn't explain, he just went back to sitting quietly with his thoughtful gaze fixed in the middle distance.

Klaus's patience was perilously thin. 

"Well?  What do you _want?_ "  His voice cracked on the last word and sent him into a coughing fit.  

Phil waited for him to get it under control to answer.  

"Not now."  He said, and went back to sitting quietly.

"Since when the fuck have you been this patient?"  Klaus reflected on all the time Phil had spent demanding help solving his murder, and nagging Klaus for wasting time on menial things like living his life. 

"You're too sick right now."  Phil told him calmly. "And you're going through withdrawal."  

 He was right, Klaus could feel it beginning.  He wondered feverishly if he could find something to steal, he was in a hospital after all.  He tried to sit up look around but just flopped back down weakly.

"Phil, you gotta help me get something, anything, I can't handle withdrawal right now."

Phil shook his head.

"Please Phil, stealing is so much easier with a ghost look out."  Klaus giggled deliriously.  "Dad had it all wrong trying to use my powers to _fight_ crime. So many more opportunities to _commit_ crimes!" 

"Kid you couldn't even get out of bed, let alone go on some kind of drug raid in a busy hospital." Phil told him dryly.  

Phil was correct.  Withdrawal sucked, going through withdrawal while already sick as a dog  _sucked!._   Klaus was soon delirious.  He felt freezing cold and boiling hot at the same time, every nerve in his body seemed to be sending his brain ten times the signal it usually did.  Everything was too bright and too loud and too much.  He dreamt he was back in the mausoleum and moaned and thrashed and cried out for her father to let him out.  It didn't help that he was surrounded by ghosts, their mangled bodies bleeding into his nightmares.  He had to be restrained to stop pulling his IV out with all the writhing around he was doing.  

Diego and Ben returned.  Diego fretted and got him ice packs and tried to sooth him when he cried from the hallucinations and exhaustion.  Ben seemed much calmer and more matter of fact.  He was relieved that all this was at least happening inside a hospital instead of alone in a dark, cold derelict house.  Eventually Klaus's fever broke and he woke up to a room devoid of brothers but full of ghosts.

Phil was sitting beside him serenely again.  The rest of the ghosts surrounded him in a rough circle, staring, waiting for Klaus to wake up.  They got excited as soon as they saw his eyes crack open and started calling out to him.

"Hey shut up you dicks."  Phil snapped at them.  And it seemed like he had some kind of sway over the others because they did quiet down.

"Where's Ben?"  Klaus croaked after a few moments of trying to get his soupy thoughts together.

"He said he wanted to keep an eye on your other brother, he asked me to keep an eye on you."  Phil informed him.

"Why?"  Klaus asked.

"I think he considers you out of commission for causing mayhem for the moment, but your brother is wound up ready to blow and in peak mayhem causing condition."

"No... why did he ask you to keep an eye on me?....Also what?" Klaus blinked at Phil, disoriented.  

"Don't worry about it kid."  Phil told him.  "Go back to sleep."  

Klaus did.

 


	12. Chapter 12

 

The next time Klaus woke up he was discharged.  He was still feeling horrible, but the hospital staff informed him he was stable enough to recover at home. Diego was not there, he had probably not expected Klaus to be well enough to leave for a few days. Klaus was given an antibiotic prescription he could not afford to fill and turned out into the world.  As he walked out of the hospital Klaus fumbled inside his pocket looking for the tear in the lining.  The weed and oxy he bought was still inside.  Klaus took in a deep rattling breath, weighing up how well his lungs might handle a joint.  Just breathing in deeply sent his into a painful coughing fit that left him light-headed.  He decided on the oxy.  But before he could take the pill Phil appeared next to him, startling him into another coughing fit.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"  The ghost demanded.

"Jesus Christ Phil..."  Klaus spluttered between coughs. "You scared the shit out of me, I thought you were Diego."  He wiped tears from the corners of his eyes.  

"Don't take that."  Phil gestured to the pill in his hand.

Klaus wheezed a weary sigh.  "I can't help you Phil. You know I can't, the police won't listen to me..."

"No."  Phil interrupted.

"Trust me they won't..." Klaus rolled his eyes, then regretted it because it made his head spin.

"No."  Phil repeated, annoyed.  "I mean you can't take the pill because it will make you sicker."

"Huh?  No it won't." Klaus gave the ghost a skeptical side eye.

"The doctor said."  Phil insisted firmly.  "He told your brother to try and keep you off the gear until at least after your cough got better.  Said stuff like that would depress your breathing and stop you coughing up all that crap in your lungs."

 Klaus frowned at the ghost suspiciously.  "Why do you care? You never cared about me before?" 

Phil scowled.  "I know, I'm sorry." He looked Klaus in the eye.  "I never really met a person like you before, when I was alive."

"uh huh....?"  Klaus had no idea where the hell the ghost was going with this.  Bemused he stuffed the pill back in his pocket.

"I mean, you're pretty out there for a guy like me...I was just a normal guy, you know...normal suburban guy."

"You're going to have to get to some sort of point Phil." Klaus prompted him.

"Hey don't be a such a wise guy...I'm trying to explain, I'm just saying, this has been a real adjustment for me."  Phil growled.

Klaus gave him a look of exaggerated patience, raising his eyebrows in a _go on_ kind of way.

"OK the thing is…”  Phil began. “… I was so angry about dying it was all I could focus on at first, this guy just came out of nowhere and stabbed me and ended my life, I wanted vengeance. Then as time went on, and I had to hang out in your shitty apartment all day, or follow you around…and you get up to some really weird shit by my days standards…probably even by today's standards…well, then I was even more angry that this is how the afterlife works. This is it?  No heaven, none of my loved ones. I get to float around the place with a bunch of dead strangers and the only living person I can talk to is a weird, junkie kid?"

"Thanks a lot."  Klaus interrupted haughtily.  "So what are you going to do complain to management? Klaus made his voice low, imitating Phil's.  " Um, excuse me?  The psychic medium kid I've randomly been assigned to for no reason isn’t meeting expectations for unpaid work for totals strangers."

Klaus was having this conversation with Phil in the bus station outside the hospital while waiting for his bus line. The other people waiting for buses were studiously avoiding eye contact with him while he had this strange and animated conversation with himself.

"No, but I would if I knew who the heck management were."  Phil told him.  "It finally...I don't know...clicked together in my head...when you were at the welfare office."

"Aw I remember the welfare office."  Klaus said fondly.  "It's one of the few places I've been that was more depressing than my childhood."

"Watching you filling in forms, waiting in line, just to be told no by some cold system, and your just a tiny little cog in a big old machine, constantly grinding forward but never getting anywhere."

"Phil, I'm loving this imagery your coming out with."  Klaus grinned, coughing into his fist.  "I don't even care about you getting to the point anymore."

Phil went on, ignoring Klaus’s comment.  "I remembered what it was like, being the one in the line, the one filling out endless, pointless forms, waiting and hoping and being told no for some bullshit reason that was out of my control.  And I realized I am out of all that now, I'm dead, expect I'm not out of it.  I'm still waiting in lines, still doing all this stuff I don't want for no reason.  And why?  So I can get revenge?  Kelly said she haunted her killer in prison and saw him getting punished every day for years on end and it never made her feel any better, it just meant she was hanging out in a prison too.  So I'm done with all that now, I just want to enjoy the rest of my existence."

"That's so beautiful."  Klaus teared up and reached out to Phil, causing the person sitting on the other side of Phil to scuttle away, thinking Klaus was reaching for him.  

Noticing the movement and realizing suddenly how crazy he must seem Klaus started giggling, then coughing.  Then the bus arrived.

"OK I'm in."  Klaus told Phil once they got settled on the bus.  

Phil gave him a questioning look.

"What?"

"Your ghost quest."  Klaus reminded him.  "That was such a stirring speech!  I liked how you compared my life to a pointless bureaucracy!  That really resonated with me."

"No we should go to your brother's house."  Phil argued.  "I can hear you breathing from here, you out to be in bed."

"But the ghost quest..."  Klaus argued clearing his throat to try and dislodge the phlegmy crackle when he breathed out.

"It can wait until you're better."  Phil told him.

"Well look, the thing is I never planned on going to my brother's house."  Klaus admitted fidgeting with his hands in his coat pocket, toying with the frayed rip in the lining.  "He wants me to get clean, and I don't think I can commit to that long term.  I was just going back to the abandoned house I've been living in."  

Phil nodded thoughtfully.  "OK in that case we should go straight to Betty Smith's house."

"Who is the nine circles of hell is Betty Smith?"  Klaus asked.

"Do you remember the article about my death?  The newspaper said that junky kid killed me?"

"Phil I barely remember the guy who punched me in the face recently, and he was much more interesting than you."  

Phil grunted. "Well the paper said this kid, Daniel Smith killed me, but he didn't, stupid kid probably just broke in later and stole some stuff."  

"OK."  Klaus nodded.  "So his mother?  Daughter? Wife?"

"Mother."  Phil agreed.

"Ha ha got it in one."  

"She's the one I want to help.  She never completely accepted that her son killed me.  She's in her late eighties now.  I think finding out for sure would really put her mind to rest."  Phil told him.

Klaus thought about it, staring out the window.

"This could go badly."  He said eventually.

"I know."  Phil agreed.  "But I don't think so.  I've been watching Betty for a while now.  I think I got a sense of how she'll take it."

"Well that sounds creepy as hell."  Klaus complained.  

"I respected her privacy."  Phil snapped.

"While you were spying on her?"

"Well what else can I do she can't see or hear me?"

Klaus held up his hands in defeat.

"She talks to him a lot."  Phil continued.  "Her son, he was all she had, I think it would really help her Klaus, I've seen you try and help hundreds of dead people but you never can, I don't think it's possible to actually help the dead but maybe you can help the living, and frankly, I think you could use a win kid."  

"I already said I was in didn't I?" Klaus tried to sound enthusiastic, but he was so stuffed up and croaky it fell flat, he just sounded resigned and defensive.

They had to take a greyhound bus, Klaus sold his oxy for a ticket.  It was better not to have the temptation he reasoned.  The weed he would not physically be able to smoke anyway so he held on to that.  Klaus slept the whole trip slumped over in his seat breathing noisily, open mouthed.  He might not be in bed but at least he was in a warm, dry bus.  They had to change to the local bus line, then there was a twenty-minute walk to Betty’s house. It was already getting late in the afternoon by the time they started walking.  Klaus started sneezing again the second he stepped out of the air conditioned bus.

“Button your jacket.”  Phil told him gruffly.  “And wrap up your scarf, no wonder you got sick!  Didn’t anyone ever teach you how to dress yourself properly?” 

Klaus scowled at the ghost but obediently wrapped his scarf around his neck a few times so that it actually trapped warmth against his throat and chest and did up two buttons of his coat to hold it roughly closed.

“She probably won’t even let me in her house.”  Klaus predicted as they walked along.  He was feeling tired and irritable after the long commute.  His nose was running from the cold air, so he had to keep sniffling and wiping his nose on the rough fabric of his sleeve.  He felt like a walking bio-hazard, not like someone who would be invited in to a stranger’s house.

“She will.”  Phil said with confidence.

“Would you have?” Klaus asked, gesturing to himself with a flourish that popped the buttons of his coat open again.  “When you were alive.”

“Betty is a much nicer person than I ever was.”  Phil told him mildly.  “And button your damn jacket properly you moron.” 

Betty’s home was a sweet little suburban cottage with a very neat garden. Klaus hesitated on her front porch, he wasn’t used to the suburbs, he felt out of place and likely unwelcome.  He had planned what he would say on the bus trip but now that he was here it seemed so flimsy to him.  When he finally knocked there was no answer at first, Klaus fidgeted nervously and cleared his throat a few times, trying to get rid of the clogged, foghorn quality his voice had taken on. 

Betty was a tiny little woman with short white hair like a cloud around her head.  She had big round lensed glasses that magnified her faded hazel eyes. 

“Hi, are you Betty Smith?”  was as far as Klaus got before he started coughing like  a plague victim.  It hadn’t helped that his voice did this weird lilt when he was nervous, it seemed to stick in his throat. 

“Oh you poor thing!”  Betty explained and was ushering him into her house before he even got a chance to have to explain himself.  In fact she got him sitting at her table and was brewing tea for him even before he managed to get his coughing fit under control long enough to speak again.

“Sorry.”  He told her, his throat was shredded so he gladly accepted the tea.

Betty made herself one as well and sat at the table opposite him. 

“So, what can I do for you young man?”  She asked, smiling jovial and gentle with no hint of fear.  Klaus wondered how she could have lived so long without being more suspicious of strangers.  Then wondered if maybe his life as a vigilante/medium/homeless drug addict had just given him a cynical world view.  Then he had to stop wondering about things because Phil was glaring at him in a way that suggested he was taking too long to answer Betty’s question.

“Oh…um…I’m here about your son.”  Klaus told her.

“My son?  Oh you must have the wrong house dear.”  Betty told him kindly. 

“No…see…I’m a law student.” Klaus stammered, flustered about not appearing convincing. 

“Oh?”  Betty seemed politely interested.

“I was looking into some old cases from the 70s and I found your sons case.”

“His case…”  She looked confused for a moment.  “You mean the…” she trailed off, seeming to struggle with putting it into words.

“There was some new evidence.” Klaus told her quickly.  “A new witness came forward, and they said it was someone else who killed Phil Leaderman, not your son.” 

Betty looked stunned. 

“You are here about my Daniel.”  She said wistfully.

“He never hurt anybody, he just broke into Phil’s office after he was already dead.” Klaus told her earnestly. 

Betty nodded. 

“But how do you know this?  Are they reopening the case?” She looked confused, and upset. 

“No, no nothing like that.”  Klaus told her.  “I was just looking into the case, and I found a witness…but they can’t make a formal statement or anything, I'm sorry, it won't be official.”  It was all technically true, and Betty didn't seem specifically upset with him, but Klaus still felt bad.

“I just wanted to let you know.”  Klaus shrugged.  “I thought you would want to know.” 

Betty nodded, she was crying a little and Klaus felt horribly guilty. 

He began to make his excuses to leave, but to his surprise Betty was having none of it, she grilled him on where he lived and how he was getting home.

“It’s much too late for you to travel all the way back.”  She told Klaus. 

“It’s OK.”  Klaus tried to escape. “I can sleep on the bus.”

“Well stay for dinner first, you won’t be able to eat on the bus.” She insisted. 

"I shouldn't have come in the first place...I'm sick."  Klaus hedged.  "You could catch it and you're...old."

"I'm old not made out of glass."  Betty seemed bemused by Klaus's concern.  "And I look after myself a little cold won't kill me."

Klaus hesitantly agreed, and Betty set him up on her couch to rest while she cooked.  As soon as he heard Betty clattering around in the kitchen Klaus got up to sneak out of the house, but when he stood up he felt dizzy. He flopped back down coughing, his body felt heavy, his eyes burned with tiredness.

“Maybe you should stay for dinner.”  Phil told him sternly.

“No, I feel bad, I made her cry.”  Klaus grumbled, but lay back on the couch, the idea of commuting all the way back home just to sleep in an abandoned house seemed impossibly difficult.

“Kid, if she didn’t appreciate that you came all this way to set her straight about her boy, do you think she would insist on feeding you?” Phil asked.

“It is very sweet of her.”  Klaus agreed.  After dinner Betty offered for Klaus to stay the night in her spare room. Klaus again tried to decline but Phil talked him into it.

“Just let her take care of you.”  Phil told him, exasperated.  “God knows you could use it and she needs someone to take care of, it will help her.”

Betty did seem to enjoy fussing over him.  He supposed if he was helping her deal through finding out her son was innocent after thinking he committed murder for 34 years, he could accept some care.

He had a bad night sleep though; the hospital had only released him thinking he was going straight home to bed.  He had pushed his body too far. His fever came back and couldn’t stop coughing.  He tried to muffle the coughs as much as possible so he wouldn’t wake Betty but it was so tiring.  She came in at least twice to check on him and give him cough medicine.

The next morning Betty bought him in a tray of orange juice, tea, oatmeal, antibiotics and an inhaler. 

"Where did you get these?"  Klaus asked, worried she was giving him her medication. 

"I found a prescription in your coat pocket and took it to the pharmacy."   Betty told him.  "I'm sorry I wasn't trying to invade your privacy, you were just so sick last night I was concerned.  I wanted to find a way to contact your family, maybe for them to come get you and take you to urgent care, I couldn't get you to wake up properly and I couldn't look you up in the phone book because I couldn't remember your name."  

"It's Klaus Hargreeves."  He told her, touched that she was being so kind to him.   

"I know dear it was on your prescription, now eat up before your oatmeal gets cold." 

Klaus ended up staying with Betty for almost a week.  He still felt pretty bad at night, his cough wouldn't let him get any deep sleep and if he did end up sleeping he had terrifying fever dreams.  He would sleep a lot during the day, Betty would potter around and fuss over him, in between naps they would watch terrible daytime TV together.  Klaus told Betty about his family but a watered down version, leaving out the vigilante stuff, even with this filtered version Betty hated his father.  No one came to visit Betty in the time Klaus was there, he felt so sad to think she had been lonely and resolved to come visit her from time to time. He wondered if this is what it was like to have a grandmother.

Over the week the amount of time he spent awake at night decreased as the amount of time he spent awake during the day increased.  One morning he woke up early  to Betty calling his name.

"Everything OK?"  He asked blearily, it was still not fully light.

"Yes Klaus dear everything is fine."  Betty told him..  "I just wanted to warn you that I died so you wouldn't find my body and get upset."

Klaus sat up in surprise. "What?!" He asked shrilly, triggering his cough.

"Please don't worry."  She told him soothingly. "I think it was a stroke, I never even felt a thing, one minute I was dreaming, next minute...poof... I'm a ghost."  

"Betty..."  Klaus said sadly, he felt a deep, crushing fear that he had somehow caused this.

"Don't be sad."  She told him.  "I'm not, and I'm so grateful you took the time to come tell me about my son, that was very kind of you Klaus."  She smiled at him fondly.  "You can go back to sleep now if you like, it's still very early.  When you get up, make sure you have breakfast first, then could you please call the hospital and report my death?"

Klaus pulled the covers over his head, he didn't want to listen, didn't want to look at her.  

"Please don't cry sweetheart." Klaus heard Betty's voice, muffled through the fabric.  "Get some sleep, I probably won't be here when you wake up.  I hope you know how grateful I am and how much I enjoyed having your company these last few days."

Klaus cried himself to sleep, then slept until late morning.  He got up and shuffled to Betty's room to check it hadn't just been a messed up dream.  She was in bed, perfectly still with no movement of her chest to show she was breathing.

"She died last night."  Phil told him, coming out of the kitchen.

"Did you talk to her?"  Klaus asked, staring at Betty's tiny, shrunken form.  

"Yeah for a bit."  

"Did she...I don't know, cross over?"  Klaus asked hopefully.

"Hell if I know kid."  Phil shrugged.  "Saw her go into your room to talk to you, but she never came out."  

Klaus nodded, he stared at Betty's body for a while the turned to leave.

"Are you going to call in her death?"  Phil asked.  

"In a minute."  Klaus told him, pulling down a box of oatmeal from Betty's cupboard, he had promised he would eat breakfast first.

 


	13. Chapter 13

 After calling in Betty's death Klaus left her house and took the bus home.  Phil came with him but when Klaus was changing buses from the greyhound to his local line Phil announced that he was leaving.

"Where are you going?"  Klaus asked him, surprised.

"Not sure yet."  Phil told him.  "But I won't bother you again."

"What are you kidding?  This was literally my favorite ghost quest ever!" Klaus gave him a strained, fragile smile.  

Phil returned it, then he fixed Klaus with a firm look. "You want my advice?  Keep on helping the living.  You can't do anything for us ghosts, we just have to move on." 

Klaus gasped.  "Oh my god you should write a ghost self help book!"

Phil scowled at him.

"You could do seminars! Motivational speaking..."

"Alright enough, people are staring at you."  Phil growled, he was right too, Klaus was not keeping his voice down at all, and could never keep his hands still when he was talking.

Klaus just chuckled.  It sometimes amused him to replay conversations he'd had with ghosts in his head, from the point of view of a random onlooker.   

"Take care of yourself kid."  Phil told him as he got onto his bus.  Klaus waved to him through the window.

 

 

Klaus had just gotten off a bus and was walking along the street when Ben appeared beside him.

"You're looking better."  He said by way of greeting.  

"Ben!"  Klaus was happy to see him, he was beginning to worry he'd got off at the wrong stop.  "Where have you been?"

"I wanted to see what Diego was up to."  He told Klaus.  "He's super pissed with you by the way.  For leaving the hospital and disappearing without saying anything."

Klaus cringed.  "Oh yeah...." He would have to deal with that eventually.

"Where were you?"  Ben asked. He listened solemnly while Klaus explained about Phil and Betty.

"She sounds nice, I'm sorry she died."  Ben told Klaus when he finished.

"Yeah...you don't think maybe she died because of me?" Klaus asked, hesitant.  

"What?  How?"  Ben was stunned.  "Why would you think that?"

"Because...you know...my power is talking to the dead...and she was fine before I came along, now she'd dead." Klaus told Ben fretfully.  

"Do you have a second power you never told me about?  I didn't know you could give a person a stroke with your mind."  Ben remarked dryly. 

Klaus sighed.  "I don't know, maybe the shock of finding out about her son? "

"Made her have a stroke a week later?  I don't think strokes work like that." Ben told him. 

"Really?"  Klaus asked relieved.

"I think she just died because it was her time.  Really it's lucky you went to see her when you did, otherwise she might never have found out about her son."  Ben pointed out. 

"Yeah maybe." Klaus said after a thoughtful pause. "So what has Diego been getting up to?"

"He's secretly fighting crime as a vigilante."  Ben told him. 

"What!?" Klaus's jaw dropped.

"Yeah."

"What!?"

"I know."  Ben sighed. 

"Does he wear a costume?" Klaus asked, his tone a mix of amusement and dread.

"Sort of."  Ben agreed. "He wears a lot of dark leather and a domino mask.

"Holy shit!"  Klaus barking out a laugh that set him off coughing, he got in under control quickly though, a week on antibiotics and bed rest had more or less defeated his illness.  

"He's actually really good at it."  Ben continued.  "It's funny, it's like he became what dad always wanted us to be, but on his own terms.  He's like batman, only poor, and he stabs people with knives, I don't think batman would do that..."

"You approve?"  Klaus asked surprised.

"Oh no, not at all, he's going to get kicked out of the police...and possibly arrested."  Ben mused.  "You should try and talk to him."

"Oh yeah he's going to love hearing life advice from me."  Klaus rolled his eyes.

"Maybe he'll want you to join him."  Ben grinned.  "You could interview murder victims, and ghost witnesses, you two could be like a buddy cop duo."  

"Trio."  Klaus corrected, hovering an arm as if it were slung over Ben's shoulder.  "You could follow suspects! See what they get up to when they think no one's watching."

"The three umbrellas."  Ben said wistfully.  

Klaus made a face.  "We'll workshop the name...."

Klaus was not paying a lot of attention to where he was going, they were just walking along with no clear directive.  Another pedestrian was walking towards them from the opposite direction, they were wearing a hoodie with the hood up and he didn't really notice them.  To his surprise the pedestrian did a dramatic double take in the street cried out his name and hugged him.  It was Thomas, his old friend from work.   

"Klaus!"  Thomas seemed genuinely delighted to see him. "I'm so glad I ran into you!  I thought I'd never see you again." 

Klaus was touched.  "Me too."  He told Thomas sincerely. "I should have come by the shop ages ago, I guess I was embarrassed." 

"Huh? Why embarrassed?" Thomas asked.

"Getting fired like that...it was so stupid of me."  Klaus admitted.

 "Oh mate, if you knew how many jobs I've lost because I did something stupid..."  Thomas told Klaus grinning sympathetically.  Then he launched into a story about being fired from department store for arranging the mannequins in hilarious positions. As he talked he steered Klaus along to his apartment. It turned out he lived near by and insisted Klaus come back to his house and have coffee and catch up.  

 

 

Thomas bustled around the apartment, putting on music, setting Klaus up on the couch, and making coffee.  His apartment was very similar to the one Klaus had lived in, except he had put a lot more effort into making it look stylish, with paintings on the walls and decent furniture.  But with enough mess and disorder that Klaus felt at home, relaxed.  A new song came on and the jangley guitar and piano riff appealed to him, making him pay attention to the lyrics. 

 

 

_"Well I held you with our undry eyes_  
_Happy years pass by_  
_It's ok to cry_

_After all_  
_In the end_  
_Just pretend_

_Well it's sticks and stones and broken homes_  
_That taught us how to smile_

_After all_  
_In the end_  
_Just pretend"_

"I like this song."  Klaus told Thomas, smiling.

Thomas beamed at him.  "This is a song called _just pretend_ by the Bens." He loved to talk about music,  he always got more animated when he did and Klaus thought is was adorable. "Do you remember how a few years ago there was a bunch of musicians named Ben?"

"Of course!"  Klaus agreed, though he didn't particularly remember this.  "Never can have too many Bens."

"Agreed!  Anyway three of those Bens, Ben Kweller, Ben Folds and Ben Lee, got together and made a band called the Bens."

Klaus looked over at his own Ben.  The ghost had a soft, peaceful expression, listening to the music.  
  
_"If the sun can shine_  
_You'll be just fine_  
_Look into your mind_  
_Where you're free_

_After all  
_In the end_  
_Just pretend__

  _'Cause we hurt each other once before_

_Let's not do that again_

_After all_  
_In the end_  
_Just pretend"_

Klaus felt a swell of hope in his heart that everything would be OK.  He would ask Thomas if he could stay with him for a while, and he would probably say yes.  He would get another job, he would try harder to take of himself. He didn't think he would be successful like Allison, he didn't think he'd manage to create a normal, stable life like Vanya, and he probably wouldn't help save lives like Diego and Luther.  Instead Klaus thought, his achievements would be more abstract, he would find happiness in a difficult and uncaring word. He would have people in his life like Betty and Thomas and who loved him without expecting him to be anything more than a flawed person. Sometimes things would be difficult or frightening or sad.  But sometimes things would be calm, or fun, or interesting.  Maybe he'd never really get his shit together, maybe he'll always be a bit of a train wreck, but he would get by. 

 


End file.
